A Hero's Journey
by KarmaHoudini
Summary: He never thought that he would be reincarnated in a Battle Harem anime as an arrogant jackass who believed himself to be a hero. Reborn as a human in this world where the strong thrives and the weak perish, he'll have to do everything in his power to survives. Well, at least, he has the overpowered stick as a weapon. OC-SICaoCao.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, KarmaHoudini speaking and I present you A Hero's Journey.**

**Please Enjoy !**

**PS: This is my first fanfic so I apologise for my poor Grammar as English is not my native language. Please be indulgent.**

* * *

Prologue :

I died. And in the most cliché way possible. Yep, you guessed it I died by the hands of Truck-Sama and I also have been reborn in a new world too. It seems that I got the full package. Though I don't think that I would have chosen Dxd to be reincarnated into. How do I know ? Well I'm pretty sure that I remember a giant red lizard doing hat tricks in a rainbow sky just before I ended up in the womb of my new mother.

Let me tell you something spending nine months in the dark is fucking terrifying. For a time I thought I was in the afterlife but I would sometimes see my body glowing and I clearly remember being born which was really – eurgh- I don't even want to think about it.

Anyway my new name is Cao Cao. Yes THE Cao Cao, wielder of the strongest Longinus, The True longinus, leader of the Hero Faction and all around arrogant jackass. I was kind of displeased at first because it would be much more difficult for me to learn magic as a human and I have absolutly no assistance to help me grow stronger because I hold no delusions that I would not be one day be roped in the supernatural world but having the strongest longinus more than make up for it.

I always thought that the original me never used his longinus full potential and honestly for the Strongest Longinus its powers were kind of underwhelming compared to the likes of Annihilation Maker, Sephiroth Graal or even the Boosted Gear. But I will not make the same mystakes as canon me and learn of my Longinus full power and I will also have to be careful not to rely on my Sacred Gear like a clutch like others Sacred Gear Wielders. I will survive in this World no matter what.

* * *

Besides all the humiliating things that I had to go through like shitting myself or sucking on my mother's nipples nothing special happened in my first three years of life where I was raised in a little chinese village in the countryside apart from the fact that I was a realy quiet child and that creeped out my parents a lot. Not that I cared It was pretty clear to me that my new parents didn't really care about me. They were a couple of poor farmers that seemed to be in constant debt and I, a child they had to feed, was clearly a burden for them. If I remember correctly Cao Cao's parents sold him to slavers and lived constantly on the run so I felt no sympathy or love for them which was good for me as I planned to leave when I wil have a better grasp on my abilities, better have no attachments to this place.

Speaking of my powers, I was able to summon my mighty spear and … It looked like a tiny stick no bigger than my tiny arm.I feel like having a magical girl wand instead of the legendary spear that killed Jesus Christ.

'Huh, I guess that it is proportional to my body's growth' I thought to myself.

Anyway turns out I already awakened my Sacred Gear when I was in my mother' womb. I guess that spending nine months in total darkness and thinking that I will never get out is a pretty terrifying situation and my sacred gear responded to my fear.

'All the glowing must have been the holy light of my longinus, Thank Go- no he's dead- Thank Michael that i didn't summon the spear inside the womb, My mother and I would have surely died'I reasoned to myself.

Awakening my Sacred Gear also gave me a passive Light manipulation magic even without summoning my spear. I'm only capable of making my hands glow with holy light for now but my magic will most likely grow the more I use it. Unfortunately I do not have a fit enough body to train with my spear. Well I'm only Three years but I can at least train my Light magic. Moreover I can now use magic even though I can't do much with it. I've tried to recreate basic spells from anime and games but as a human I need to understand the maths on how the magic works instead of simply imagining it like the devils. It seems that the time I will be able to rip off all my favorite moves is still a long time from now.

'Tch, the devils have it so much better it's freaking unfair'I thought to myself depressingly.

The only spell that I was able to recreate is _Structural Grasping_ of the nasuverse. A seemingly useless spell but it is my hope that if I train enough with it I would be able to use _Reinforcement_ or even _Projection_. Who knows, with the magic being so much stronger here than in the nasuverse, I could maybe be able to use Tracing without a Sword Origin and maybe even more.

Anyway this is not the time for daydreaming. I need to plan a training regime for the next five years and prepare myself for canon. But There is a big problem about these plans. I have absolutly no idea what to do in the future and what will be my role in the supernatural world.

Should I become a devil ? No way I have no intention to support the slavery system of the devils by becoming a devil myself and it is most likely impossible for me to become a devil as I am the Wielder of the True Longinus, the strongest holy weapon in the world. It should be impossible for me to become one and even if It was possible I will most likely be unable to use my Sacred Gear anymore which is unacceptable.

The second option would be to join the Church and become an exorcist. The advantage would be that I would be close to canon characters and the Church will literally worship the ground I walk on with because of my longinus, there is also the possibility of becoming an angel but I know what the loyalty of the church measure to, jack shit that is. And lastly we have the Grigori which could be a good choice as I could have the same status as Tobio Ikuse and Vali Lucifer.

'Argh I don't know what to do'I thought to myself frustatingly.

"Cao Cao, it's time for Dinner Hurry up" called out my mother.

'Already I didn't see the time fly. I'll think about all this later'

" I'm coming Mother " I cried out.

* * *

It's been already eight years since I have been reborn in this world and I can say I have been making good progress in my training. My light magic is coming along nicely as I am already capable of creating three beam of light in the air that I can launch at high speed against any oponnent. A spell inspired by Medea of Colchis from Fate Stay Night, It is at the moment the only attack spell at my disposition. I am also capable of coating my limbs and any weapon that he wield with Holy Light something that should be very effective against devils.

My progress in magic could be considered insignifiant by the standard of supernatural creatures but the fact that I was capable to accomplish this much alone as a human with no one to help me is proof of my talent.

I also trained with _Structural Grasping_ by analysing every objects that I could find. Thanks to this I was able to use _Reinforcement _by analysing my body and using the spell on my body more efficiently. I am also capable of looking at the history of an object but _Tracing_ is still not within reach. Moreover this feature of the spell enabled me the creation of a spell unique to me something that would have been impossible in the nasuverse. This spell is called _Imprint_. I created it by taking inspiration of the fact that Shirou Emiya is capable of copying the fighting style, be it swordmanship or spearmanship of the preious wielders of the weapons that he traced but he lose the knowledge when he is not tracing any weapons. I was able to overcome that weakness using the more versatile and free DxD magic system. I can imprint, for lack of better terms, on my body the knowledge of the fighting style by looking at the history of objects or weapons and it will never disappear.

For exemple When I was six I went to the city alone, not like my parents even remarked my absence, to test the theory about this new spell . I found a dojo which teached Chinese Kenpo and by looking at the clothings of the master I was able to learn the martial art without even practicing a day of my life. It's cheating I knows and also insulting for the masters who trained their whole life but I didn't have the time to find a teacher and pratice everyday.

The only drawbacks is that I can't copy the master whole knowledge of martial arts. I can only be considered a talented apprentice at best but through this way I was able to learn Taekwondo, Karate and basic swordmanship and spearmanship. It was more than enough as I will copy more martial arts and weapon mastery in the future from skilled people from the supernatural world later.

Making my way through the woods near my village for my training of the day, I wondered if the time has finally comes to leave this backwater village. My parents seems to be more in debt than they ever was and they have been sending me strange and troubling looks since a few weeks ago.

They most likely finally decided to sold me to human traffickers fo money to solve their debt problems like in canon. Not that I cared enough to play there games, I'll leave my parents to there misery and finally works to achieve my dream.

Speaking of said dream. I still remembers the day I finally decided on what my role would be in this crazy world will be. It was a few years ago when I was still undecided on my course of action. At that time i was wondering on what faction to join when I had an epiphany. Since I was reborn in this world with my past life memory I always thought that humans were dealt a bad hand in this world of Devils, Angels and Gods.

True, humans have the largest population but we are still considered the weakest of the races. Canon Cao Cao had the right idea in a way even he went the wrong way about it. Indeed he wanted to create a faction of humans, of heroes so that they could contend with all the supernaturel factions and not be treated as inferior by the other races.

He was also enraged that the devils were stealing humanity potential through the Evil Piece System by reincarnating Sacred Gears users. It's even more insulting when you take into account that sacred gears were made for humans by the God of The Bible.

In a way you could say that he wanted to create a safe haven for humans involved in the supernatural. After all these humans are considered nothing more than potential slaves for the Devils, guinea pig and tools for the angels and soldiers for the Grigori. But that goal changed over time and he strayed from his original path and turned it into a fight for Human dominance.

I wondered if Ishibumi knows what kinds of death world he created while making a story about a worthless pervert getting all the girls.

I realised what kind of world it was for humans with Sacred Gear and how dangerous it was for them. This is why I decided that I would create a safe haven for people like me and I will also make an organisation of elites charged with the protection of the mundane world from the supernatual.

I will not make the same mistake as Cao Cao and become a racist of the species from the supernatural and will welcome any and all who would wish to join be they halfbreed, humans or youkais. I already have an idea on who to recruit, the original members of the Hero Faction are a given but also the outcasts of societies such as a certain halfbreed and stray devil.

But to accomplish such a goal I'll have to become incredibly strong, stronger than even the Maous.

« Well it seems that I have my work cut out for me »I said out loud.

* * *

« huff ….huff … huff » I breathed out slowly

Dusk has finally come just when I finally finished my training for the day. I need to go back home before my parents come back but just before I was going to make my back I heard a rustle in the bushes behind me. I looked behind me to see someone or rather something coming at me at full speed. I dodged on one side and prepared myself for combat.

« Hahahaha finally, meat good old human meat. I found food at last » rasped out the monster gravely voice.

I now have a good look at the monster, and yes it could only be a monster. It looked like, huh honestly it looked like freaking Killer Croc from DC.

'How the fuck a giant crocodile ended in a forest in China' I though to myself dumbfoundedly

« Don't move too much kid I don't like it when my food moves too much' said PseudoKiller Croc

'Well Cao Cao you wanted some battle experience you've got it right here'

« Well Lizard face are you some kind of stray who ran away from it's Master » I said tauntedly

« Eh ?! Do you have some kind of death wish or what ?! How dare you insult me you meatbag ?! I am Razor, a Stray Devil who killed his Master, and have been on the run for the last ten years from the Devil government and the Church. » said Lizard Face angrily.

« Are you an idiot ? Do you even realise that you are boasting about being a coward who've been hiding for ten years, this is nothing to be proud of Lizard Face » I said to enrage him further.

« Argh I'm going to kill you brat ! »

Killer Croc look alike lauched at me at high speed and tried to cut me into pieces with his claws but he was way too slow for me. I reinforced my body and moved to the side to avoid his arm then I jumped and kicked him in the head with reinforced leg. I heard the satisfying breaking of bones and he rolled away and impacted in a narby tree.

'Huh, knowing Taekwondo has it perks' I thought marveling at my work.

« Well you sure have a shitty luck, choosing me of all people as a prey » I said moving to his unmoving body with calm steps.

« Kill…you » growled the Stray Devil

« Yeah yeah can you be more cliche » Just as I said my piece I felt my senses go off. I looked below just in time to see a fist made of rocks coming at my face. The fist impacted my crossed arms sending me in the air.

'Shit I was careless I thought that he was a simple rook' I thought to myself feeling the pain in my arms.

The lizard in front me got up as if I didn't hurt him in the first place. I could see the wound I gave him in the head slowly regenerating.

« Haha I'm sure you pegged me as a mere rook but I didn't kill my Devil master simply using my strengh I have always been profficient in Earth magics. You are going to pay for this brat I'm going to make you scream in agony, **Earth Spikes** » cried out Razor.

I immediatly moved to the side to avoid the spikes made of rocks that were going to impale me. Reinforcing my legs I launched myself leaving a small crater behind and cocked my fist back coating my fist with holy light.

'Shit that doesn't seems good' thought Razor.

**« Earth Armor !** »

I could see my opponent coating his body with rocks but it didn't matter I punched him with my fist of holy light.

« Arghhhhh ?! » my opponent cried out in pain as my fist destroyed his armor and burned his flesh but even with this he was still up and capable of fighting.

« This is….Holy light. This is impossible. How can you.. ? » said the monster looking at his burned flesh.

« Mmmmh you are still alive even after this. It seems I still have much to learn but unfornetutly for you playtime is over. Come forth **True Longinus** » I said finally summoning my Sacred Gear.

« You…that spear…..impossible….you are » gasped my opponent in fear but before he could react further I was already in front of him and I lightly grazed him with my spear. I was astonished to see that such a weak cut killed him instantly with only ashes remaining.

« Huh so a single cut of my spear is enough to kill instantly such a weak devil » I mused to myself.

« Hoho, how interesting to thinks I would see such an unique specimen simply by going for a walk in the mountain of China » Said a strange that seemed to come from everywhere around me.

Before a I could question the identity of my interlocutor something appeared in front me. It was as tall as me, covered in golden fur, wearing monks clothings and looked like a…

« A monkey ? » I said out loud

The old monkey, yes old I could see his wrinkled face, hit me in the top of my head « Argh » I cried in pain.

« Not a mere monkey, the King Of Monkeys. Give some respect to your elders brat » said the so-called King Of monkeys scathingly.

'Wait did he say Monkey king. Don't tell me he is … ?' I thought with a look of recognition on my face.

« Ho it seems that you recognize me » said The Victorious Fighting Buddha who is as tall as elementary school child.

« You are Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equaling the Heaven » I said in astonishment and taking a few steps back.

« Yes,yes I am but I am not here to talk about me. Tell me what is your name boy ? » asked the Monkey King.

I was proud to say that it only tooks only a few seconds for me to regain my bearing despite the shit dropping fear I felt at this moment.

« My name is Cao Cao » I said with all the courage I could gather at this moment.

« Cao Cao huh so I was right you really are the descendant of Cao Cao Mengde, The Hero of Chaos but also the Wielder of The Strongest Longinus. » said Sun Wukong looking at me intently.

« … » I gulped under his inspection.

« Well I have seen something interesting today but it's time to go back home. See ya boy » Said the old monkey turning his back on me and preparing himself to leave .

'What ?! That's it !' I thought dumfounded.

« Wait don't leave » Came out of my mouth without thinking.

« Mmmh someting else to add boyo ? »

And it was at this moment that I got the craziest of all ideas. So crazy was my idea that it tooks a few seconds for my brain to reboot.

« Well ? » He asked again.

It was a chance of a lifetime I realised. If I get this pass through my fingers I'll regret it all my life. A chance to finally leave this blasted village and become stronger, stronger than anyone. So this is why I bowed to him and asked.

« Please, take me as your disciple Mister Wukong !» 'Shit Why did I say Mister it's not appropriate for this setting' I thought trying to calm my nerves.

« Why ? » He simply said.

« Eh ? » came out my intelligent answer.

« Why should I take you as my disciple ? I already have one in my descendant Bikou and it's too much work. You are a Hero descendant and Wielder of the True Longinus but if you thinks that is enough to take you as my disciple the you are greatly mistaken. So why should I take you with me ? » asked The Great Sage seriously fo the first time.

I thought for a few seconds and I realised I didn't have to, I already have my answer.

« I have a dream, a goal that I want to accomplish in this world no matter what. I wish….I wish to protect people like me people, humans like me who were unfortunate or fortunate enough to enter the supernatural world. These people who are seen as potential slaves by the devils or tools of God by the Church. I will create a safe haven for these people but also for the outcast of societies like the halfbreed and innocent Strays who were accused wrongly. I will welcome any and all and protect them so that they could live a life of peace ! This is my dream ! And to accomplish that goal I need to be strong stronger than anyone so please make me strong »I said passionately with an hand on top of my heart.

Sun Wukong looked at me with half lidded eyes as if he was looking at me for the first time.

« This is a faction that you wish to create, a faction for humans and outcasts of the supernatural world. It's impossible. Do you really think that you could succeed in this endeavor of yours ? »

« Even so, even if it is impossible I still want to try and besides isn't humanity known to achieve the impossible » I said cheekily.

He looked at me for a few seconds with a look of suprise for the first time in our conversation and he bursted out in laughter. He fell on his back and started laughing with tears on his eyes. Honestly I was kind of insulted. Is he mocking my dream, that old geezer ?

« HAHHAHAHHAHA Th-that's right your race I-I forgot how your race were always the ones who could suprise me. Tru-truly mankind is a race of unlimited potential. The only one who could birth Heroes. It seems, after all this time, I have forgotten this basic aspect of humanity. No not only me but every supernatural species » Said the Old sage trying to regain control on his laughter.

I continued to look at him seriously with my hand on top of my heart and waited for his answer.

« Very well, you can come with me young Cao Cao. I will teach you but know that my training is not for the faint of heart » he said with a smile on his face.

I was elated. I was going to become the disciple of the Victorious Fight Buddha, Sun Wukong. Just thinking of everything I'm going to learn like Senjutsu and Touki is enough to make me giddy.

« Thank you Shishou ! » I said with with excitement and gratitude clear in my voice.

« Don't get too excited on me brat, now get on. » said the Monkey King pointing the giant yellow cloud right next to me.

« No freaking way ! Is that the flying nimbus from DragonBall ?! »I gushed and I suddenly felt bowel dripping terror as an aura of bloodlust permeated the area. I looked up in fear at my new Shishou who looked very intimidating for a one meter tall old monkey.

« Never and I said never compare me to thrice damned Faker. Clear ? » growled the Great Sage.

« Y-Yes Shishou ! » I answered immediatly.

« Now get on. Destination : India ! »

And this is how my Hero's Journey began.

* * *

**Author's notes :**

**Thank you all for reading.**

**PLease give me your opinion on the comments section**

**Until next time !**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again ! I give you a new chapter a day after the release of my story. Pretty cool huh**

**Please enjoy !**

* * *

Chapter 1 :

Reinforcing my leg I launched myself at blinding speed at my opponent. I cocked my spear back and prepared myself to thrust it at my adversary but as I was closing in he suddenly duplicated himself in two and came at me from both sides.

I was able to fend off several of his attacks by making a spear of light in my other hand and attacking swiftly with my double-spearmanship. I was able to cut his clone in two then I levitated my spear using telekinesis and launched it at that damn monkey. He tried to dodge it but my spear followed him acting as an homing-weapon and cornered him.

'Thank you, King' I thought to myself poud to have ripped of that move from the Fairy King.

" Oi ! That's fucking unfair, Cao Cao, I thought it was a close-combat spar. " said the descendant of The Victorious Fighting Buddha.

" How naive of you Bikou, you should know that nothing is unfair in a fight . Now stop bitching and come at me, you damn monkey." I taunted smugly.

" Now you've said it, you smug bastard" cried out Bikou angrily while making several clones of himself and barreling at me. "**Extend Ruyi Jingu Bang !** "

His staff, a copy of the legendary weapon of his ancestor, extended in size and length while his clones made their way to me from both of my sides. I was surrounded, trapped but that doesn't mean I was helpless.

" **Shinra Tensei !** " I cried out loud.

A crushing Force blowed away everything around me in a two meter radius including Bikou's giant staff and the clones.

Shinra Tensei , a technique copied from Nagato Uzumaki from Naruto. My version is nowhere as powerfull as someone with enough strength and power could bypass it but I was still able to recreate the 'repulsive force' that pushes everything in the vicinity using my magic powers instead of chakra . It tooks me months upon months of studiying Newton 's laws to understand the maths behind this spell to use it without drawbacks but it was toatally worth it.

'Time to finish this'"**Time Alter : Double Accel**" I said the name of the spell that I created taking Kiritsugu Emiya as an inspiration. Accelarating the flow of time of my body I could feel my blood, hemoglobin and muscle movement speeding up.

I withstood the pain of my straining muscles and heart and barrelled faster than the human eye can see at Bikou who was getting up and taking a battle stance with his staff.

I cocked my fist back coating it with Holy Light but I could feel my senses getting disoriented by Bikou's use of Youjutsu.

'Tch sneaky bastard' I thought to myself but I already planned for this. Using my telekinesis I levitated my Spear behind Bikou and launched it at his spine while I was coming at him.

"Shit ! I yield ! " exclaimed the future Monkey King unable to avoid the coming attack.

We both fell in the grass while panting for breath .

" Huh, you got me this time Cao Cao but the score is still 52-45 in my favor." boasted my friend smugly.

"What are you talking about you idiot ? The score is clearly in my favor. " I groaned while panting heavily.

"Hahaha No way. You still have a long way to go to be at my level Chaos brat" mocked Bikou looking at me mischievously.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that" I cried out irritated by his mockery.

"Shishishishi !" continued to laugh the stupid monkey youkai.

I hate that damn nickname, given to me by my Shishou because my ancestor was called the Hero Of Chaos during the War of The Three Kingdoms and I am his descendant.

Anyway it's been a year since I became the disciple of The Great Sage Equaling The Heaven and moved to to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. A mountain in India where the members of Sun Wukong's clan resides.

Thi is also where I made my first friend in this world, Bikou the descendant of the Old Sage. He was already interested in me since I was his fellow disciple but it became worse later as he has been hounding me for spars when he found out about my lineage and and about my True Longinus.

I caved one day and ever since we've been fighting pratically everyday and keeping scores.

In the span of one year I have made great progress in my training especially with my magic and and spearmanship. Using _Imprint _I have copied the Wukong Clan Martial Art and Spearmanship though I was unable to copy Shishou's Knowledge of combat.

Understandable as The Great Sage is immortal and my brain cannot bear the memories of centuries of existence. In game logic I would be a Level 15 Lancer and he, a Level 80 Raid Boss. He is too high level for me use that spell on.

The Wukong Martial Art is also greatly compatible with me because of my True Longinus ability to extend its length though I do not have a Monkey Youkai agility but I more than make up for it with my dexterity and skills. Despite this I still thinks that there moves are way too flashy, there is no need for all these acrobatics damn it.

'Or maybe it is because I'm super jealous that I can't do these moves.' I thought to myself depressingly.

" Hey by the way, you still haven't gotten the hang on that new spear of yours." mentioned my fighting buddy.

" I'm suprised that a monkey brained idiot like you noticed. " I said with irritation clear in my voice.

" I'm not an idiot !" he cried out sending a rock at my face which I swiftly avoided "So,… What's the problem Buddy ?" questioned my friend.

I sat still and pondered my answer remembering when I first got that spear. It was a gift from my Shishou.

_Flashback_

" _What do you mean I can't use my True Longinus ? I questioned loudly with a suprised face._

" _Exactly what I mean Chaos Brat. I'm not here to teach you how to use your Longinus. No I'm here to teach how to become strong using your own powers and not that of your Sacred Gear. I do not want you to fall on the same trap that all Sacred Gear users fell into and rely on it like a clutch. I will teach you everything I knows about Martial Arts, the Mystic Arts or even Senjutsu to you but you will have figure out the abilities of your Sacred Gear by yourself." answered Sun Wukong calmly._

_I understand what he was saying. After all I, too, didn't want to rely on my Holy Spear too much and planned others mean to attacks besides using my Longinus all the time because it would be the only mean to defeat Rivezim Lucifer but I thought that magic would be the solution to that problem not that I would have to use another weapon entirely._

"_But what should I use if not my Holy Spear ? I asked him uncertainly._

" _I prepared for that enventuality. Here your new weapon" He took out a spear out nowhere and gave it to me._

_It was a a very well crafted two handed halberd. But honestly I couldn't help be disappointed. You can't blame me I was pretty spoiled for weapon with my True longinus. Shishou, seeing my face, bursted out laughing._

"_Don't make such a face Boy. This is no ordinary weapon. The name of that spear is Houtengeki, The Sky Piercer, the prized spear of Lu Bu the God Of War of the Three Kingdoms." said my Shishou mischievously._

"_WHAT ?!" I bellowed with a shocked face then looked at the halberd intently._

"_Shishishishi how is that boy ? I only give the best to my students. It's even more funny because that spear belonged to the man that your ancestor executed. Such poetic irony ! Hilarious !" explained my Shishou while bursting his gut with his laughter._

"_But Shishou, I do not sense anything special with that spear ?" I asked him sceptically._

" _That spear is special because it grows alongside the wielder. In the hand of an inexperienced fighter that spear would be worthless but in hands of a true master it could kill even a god. Houtengeki is only as good as its master. I give you that spear because I believe that you can achieve its true potential. Do not disappoint me Cao Cao." answered my master seriously._

'_I didn't know that he had such faith in me .Usually he spend the majority of his time making fun of me or pranking me. " I thought moved by his words._

" _I will not disappoint you, Shishou !" I told him while bowing at my waist._

"_Another word of wisdom my student, your Longinus is the strongest Sacred Gear ever created by the God of the Bible. This is why I believe it should only be used as a trump card or last resort ." I contemplated his words and I could see the advantage it could bring me by keeping my cards close to the chest._

"_Anyway I'm going to talk a walk ! Work hard my student ! "then he turned his back on me and started mumbling to himself._

'_Wait, That's it ! He's not even going to teach me how to use it.' I thought dumfounded at his attention span._

" _I wonder if I should take a walk in Kyoto and spy on Yasaka while she take a bath ? She would be so hot in a hotspring Shishishshi ! " he mumbled to himself._

' _Sometimes I forget that besides being the oldest Sage in the world he is also an helpless pervert' I sweatdropped while taking a stance with my new halberd._

_End Flashback_

I was seated in the grass in the training ground lost in thought thinking about his words and my new weapon. Since that day I've trained extensively with my Sacred Gear without the help of Shishou and made good progress but I'm nowhere near the level to achieve Balance Breaker which I'm pretty sure will not be _Polar_ _Night Longinus Chakravartin_ as I do not have the same soul as canon Cao Cao. I have also decided to hide the existence of True Longinus for the time being and only use it as Trump Card or to kill my opponent quickly. Houtengeki is an excellent replacement in that aspect as I could use it against all types of opponent because of it's versatility. Speaking of said weapon…

"Cao Cao,hey, Cao Cao I asked you a question." yelled Bikou next to me. "Stop ignoring me, you bastard !"

"Alright,alright I heard you the first time. I was just thinking." I grumbled in irritation trying to regain my hearing.

"Well, What's up with that spear ?" questioned my friend.

" I'm not used to it,thats all." I said trying to explain my situation. "My Holy Spear is a weapon tied to my soul. Something that is mine and mine alone. Trying to use another spear other than True Longinus is strange to say the least. It feels like a betrayal for some reason."

I have been having difficulty unlocking the power within the Sky Piercer. It still feels like an ordinary Halberd with no special powers to me which is ridiculous because I used _Imprint_ on it and while I could use the techniques of Lu bu recorded in the weapon I still could not use the special ability of Hotengeki.

The special ability known _as God Force : The Five Soldiers of the War God, _the ultimate technique that allows the wielder to use all major characteristics of a large two handed halberd allowing the wielder to efficiently slash, thrust, batter, scythe and sweep with great Force.

Bikou hummed besides me " I think I understand. I don't think I would be able to use any other weapon other than _Riyu Jingu Bang_. It's the same for you."

But before I could respond we were both startled by a highpitched scream behind us. We both get up quickly and looked behind us to see our Shishou, the Old Geezer himself, laughing his ass of loud speaker in hand.

"Damn, that was not cool Gramps !"

" That was immature Shishou."

We both complained trying to regain our hearing. I then looked back at my Master his earlier mirth gone and looking at me seriously.

"Cao Cao," I gulped and waited." Your body is ready, it is time to awaken your Touki." said the Old Sage.

I was understandably confused. Isn't Touki unlocked through a hellish training regime lke Sairoarg Bael or by mastering Senjutsu like the Youkais.

"Haha finally ! You're gonna enter the big leagues now Cao Cao " exlaimed Bikou with ecxitement.

"But isn't Touki awakened through rigorous training of the body ?" I asked my Master.

"Mmmh ? Who told you that ? It is true that it is possible to use Touki this way but it is the hardest way to unlock Touki." mused Sun Wukong." There is Three way to awaken Touki. First is Senjutsu. All Senjustsu users can use Touki by controlling the base of their life force and increase their attack, defense and speed tremendously. The Second way is what you said. Unlocking Touki through intensive training of the body. It is the hardest way as it can take someone decades to succeed but also the most rewarding as someone who awaken Touki like that will have ten times more power than a Senjutsu user. I do not recommend it as it would take too much time." explained the Great Sage in all his wisdom.

"Hah ! Only an insane man would choose this path." interrupted Bikou with his loud and annoying voice.

'No way, What kind of monster is Sairoarg Bael if he could do it in less than a decade and before his twenties at that' I thought in my head astonished at the determination of the Bael Heir.

_Somewhere in the Underworld :_

" _99 997…99 998…99 999…achoum ! " snizzed a black-haired boy doing push-ups._

" _Damn I was at the 100 000 mark. That's alright I'll do it again from the begining.1…2…3." said a Sairoarg Bael loudly resuming his training._

_Back to India_

"And finally a Touki master can awaken someones's Touki." finished my master simply

It tooks me a few seconds to understand his meaning.

"W-What ? there is such a easy way to use Touki." I sputtered in incomprehension.

" Of course there is. True, in this day and age Touki users are rare but in the old days it was, while not common, still widespread. There were many heroes such as Lu Bu, your ancestor Cao Cao, Li Shuwen, Karna, Arjuna, Rama and many more who could use Touki. How do you think these guys awakened their Touki." explained Sun Wukong as if he was talking to a child which I was.

"But how ?! " I questioned him while looking at both Bikou and my master.

"Through a simple chant though this method was lost in time. I didn't do this for Bikou as he is my descendant and a Youkai who can learn Senjutsu but you are human and it will take too much time to awaken Touki using the two others methods. Luckily for you I am a Touki master and the only one alive who remember the chant. However You should know that Touki unlocked this will be much weaker than with Senjutsu but it will have the potential to grow with time. "said the Old monkey ." Now come here and take a meditative stance."

I slowly approached my Teacher and took a meditative stance in the grass while he made his way behind and started his chant.

_« For it is in passing that we achieve immortatility. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee. »_

Just after he finished his chant, I felt power surge through my very bones. I could see a colorless aura surrounding my body. It was intoxicating. Honestly I feel like I could run all the way to China on foot.

"So this is Touki" I marveled at the power I felt.

"Hoh, you have more Touki than you should have for someone who awakened Touki through the aura chant. Interesting." said my master inspecting my body and looking at me intently.

I nodded and wondered if that now I have Touki I could learn to use Senjutsu like Bikou as I've been excluded from these training sessions because I was not ready.

" Shishou, is it possible for me now to learn Senjutsu now that I have Touki ?" I asked him waiting in anticipation his answer.

He stopped looking at my body and contemplated my words. I felt nervous just waiting for his answer.

"No," He finally said crushing my hopes." You are human and you do not have chakra and the connection to nature that we, Youkais, have. It may take decades even for a genius like you to feel the nature energy in the air or withstand the malice and hate of the world."

I slumped depressingly and raged in my mind about the unfairness of it all.

"But," I looked up in hope. "If you were able to create a connection to nature with your magic then it may be possible for you to learn Senjutsu." I cheered in excitation.

"Don't worry I, your master, will help you, you are my student after all." said my master arrogantly.

"Thank you Shishou !" I bowed and thanked him.

A magic which gives a connection to nature he said.

'Well, I may have an idea' I thought excitedly.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**Thank you for reading !**

**This chapter was a little short for my taste and only had one scene in the whole chapter so I'm kind of displeased with it.**

**I'll try to add more scenes in the next chapter and introduce more characters next time.**

**PS: For those who do not know about Houtengeki, look up Berserker Lu Bu in Fate Grand Order and the chant I used to awaken Touki is the Aura chant from RWBY.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heya everyone. Damn this is the third chapter of the week, I'm good but don't get used it. It's the holyday now for me but classes resumes next week so I will only be able to updates once a week or every 2 weeks.**

** Don't worry I do not plan to updates once every few months. I have plan for this story great plans, Shishishi.**

**Here is the New Chapter,**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

Chapter 2 :

It's been three years since I've moved in the mountain and am now 12 years old. After awakenig my Touki I spent the next two years trying to use Senjutsu to no avail. Shishou helped me the best he could by teaching me breathing techniques and how to sit perfectly still to help me feel the nature energy in the air but I still felt nothing.

The only thing I was able to accomplish through this was to mold my Touki to use it differently than the norm. Indeed the primary feature of Touki was to enhence one's body but I could see that the concept of Touki was similar to that of Haki from One piece. So I've tried recreate the three forms of Haki : Observation, Armament and Conqueror.

The Result ? Well, let's just say that it was a failure. Conqueror and Armament were downright impossible and and the only thing I could accomplish with Observation was to make some kind of danger sense around me. But it was not a total waste of time as I found an alternative by recreating the Rokushiki, the martial art of the Marines in One Piece. For some reason I was able to make all six powers perfectly but even with all this Senjutsu was still not within reach.

Seeing that this method was not working I changed tactics and tried to etablish a connection to nature through my magic like my master advised me. To achieve this I needed to learn a type of magic inherently connected with nature.

Which magic you ask ? Well, the answer is obvious. Hashirama Senju was a Senjutsu Master in the manga but I'm pretty that he didn't learn the Sage Arts with Summons and the only thing that made him different from Naruto was that he had the Mokuton or the Wood Release in english. Wood magic was thus the solution to my dilemma. The problem was that I had absolutly no idea how to use that type to magic. I had no choice but to ask my teacher if he had any magician aquaintances who have grimoires dealing with that type of magics.

Imagine my suprise when the next day I had a pile of grimoires about several types of magics dealing with nature and that he got them from Mephisto Pheles, the Chairman of the Magician organization, Grauzauberer, and Leader of the Extra Demons Clan.

I asked him in astonishement how he got these without any compensation. The Old man simply told me that Mephisto owed him one and called in a favor with a mysterious smile on his face. I was kinda touched that he would go that far for me I sweared that day that I will repay him for all he has done for me.

Using these grimoires I was able to create my own bastardised version of Wood magic using several mangas as an inspiration.

I'm presently sitting in a clearing at the edge of the mountain trying to feel nature energy. Since I've learned my Wood magic I could feel an inkling in the air which I know is nature energy however I could not access it or rather it was nature itself rejecting me by pouring all the malice it could in my very soul, making me blackout everytime. But progress is still progress.

"Okay, lets try again." I breathed calmly. " **Wood Realese : Nativity of a Sea of Trees.**"

Trees started sprouting from the ground turning the clearing I was on into a small forest. Feeling my connection to the trees I breathed quietly and tried to get a feel of the nature energy in air.

Concentrating on my state of mind I quietly released my Touki and assimilated the natural ki in my own aura. Immediatly I felt something pushing me back and could feel the ill will flowing in the world. I released all that malicious intent in the trees that I created causing them to wither and concentrated once again. Slowly I opened my eyes and looked at a completely different world. It is as if I looked at the world for the first time. I could see the aura, the ki flowing in the world. It was honestly the most beautiful things I've ever looked at.

" Hah, I did it !" I cried out in joy. " I can finally use Senjutsu !"

And suddenly my danger sense screamed at me to dodge. I immediatly moved to the, side knowing that my senses are rarely wrong,I made several Sword of Light in the air and prepared to retaliate. I could see a yellow blur passing me by and looked at my opponent.

"Bikou ? Why did you attack me ?" I questioned absentmindedly because I was too busy looking at his golden aura surrounding him. ' So this is how a Senjutsu user's aura looks like.'

" I could feel your use of Senjutsu from the mountain I just wanted to see if it worked properly. Shishishi !" he said without an hint of shame. " Congrats buddy, we'll throw a party later. Anyway Gramps want you back at the temple."

"Sishou is back from his errand for Lord Indra ? I said, internally cursing at bringing up Indra in the conversation.

My Master,Sun Wukong, is somewhat part of the Hindu Faction as Indra's Vanguard and is given sometimes tasks to fulfill by the Heaven Emperor. He often complains about being nothing more than a errand boy but he accomplish these tasks faithfully.

However that doesn't mean that I share his faith in the God of Heaven. After all I'm pretty sure Indra know about me and my Longinus and in the novels the original Cao Cao was made Sun Wukong successor as Indra's Vanguard. In other words his pawn which he was even when Cao Cao created the Hero Faction.

This is something that I want to avoid at all cost not only because it would be detrimental to my goal but also because Indra was portrayed as a shrewd and manipulative individual. He is not someone I can trust so I've been avoiding any topics involving him.

"Yeah, he came back this morning anyway we have guests and they want to meet you." said Bikou startling me from my thoughts.

" Me ? Why and who ?!" I sputtered in suprise. No one ever came to visit me since I moved in the mountain.

' Is it Indra ? Please by Gabriel's holy tits, let it not be Indra !' I cursed in my mind and suddenly became very nervous.

" Relax man, it's just the Grauzauberer." snickered Bikou at the face I was making.

Grauzauberer ? Since the day my master called in his favor to Mephisto Pheles I've been asking them through Shishou to send me several books dealing with the basics of thaumaturgy but also magics theories and I've asked them a few months to send books dealing with Time, Space and Gravity magic but also alchemy.

It's not like they will miss them as they have several copies in their library and I always send them back after I memorized everything. Besides they always teleported the books to our location and never sent representatives before. Why do it now ?

* * *

We made our way back to the temple to meet with the guests . I was still leery about meeting these people and wondered what they wanted from me. ' At least its not Indra. Thanks Gabriel for small mercy.'

Trying to think about something other than the terrifying God Of War I wondered about my next course of action. I already planned to leave the mountain when I'll reach thirteen or fourteen years old in other words a year or two from now but what I should do after ? The next step should logically be to recruit members for my group but would they even listen to me.

Should I go to the Church to find Jeanne and Siegfried ? What about Team Slash Dog, are they already with Grigori ? Is Valerie Tepes already in the hands of Rivezim and Qlippoth ? If not, how do I save her ? And where the fuck Heracles and Leonardo located ? In fact in how many years does Canon start ? They never specified Cao Cao age in the novels and looking at Bikou tells me nothing.

'Arghhhh ! I have so much to do and so little time !' I mentally raged.

" Cao Cao, we're here." I was so lost in thought that I didn't see that we arrived at our destination. I calmed my mind and entered the room.

Looking at the people, I could see my Shishou drinking tea with three people at the table. One was a middle-aged man wearing a blue and red costume. He had gelled hair which is a mixture of red and blue, heterochromic eyes with one being blue and the other red. He had a mischievous smile pulling at his slips. For some reason I felt chills go down my spine looking at it.

He also had two children with him. A young boy with spiky brown hair and rectangular glasses and a serious air around him. 'Is that Georg' he thought shocked. The other child was a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes and a witch hat atop her head. She was sending a kind and innocent smile his way. He felt like he knows her too.

" Hoh You're here finally here Cao Cao, come sit" adressed my master. " Let me present you our guest. This is Mephisto Pheles, Georg Faust and Lavinia Reni. " Introduced my master while they all nodded in my direction.

"Nice to meet is an honour to be in your presence." I said while bowing.

I sat down and wondered if I was fortunate to meet two potential recruits with one a member of the original Hero Faction and the other a member of Slash dog team or unfortunate to be face-to-face with The Mephisto Pheles who literally embody the deceitful nature of devils.

" So this is him." spoke one the oldest devil alive for the first time with eyes full of curiosity." Such an interesting specimen."

It was really creepy how he was looking at me, I honestly felt kind of violated .

" So much light inside a single human body. Even Saints blessed by God do not have as much holy light as you. Though it is to be expected with your Longinus." He continued with a smile while taking a sip from his drink."Honestly as a devil I feel kinda violated being in front of you."

"Huh." I answered dumbly while thinking.' That's my line, you creepy bastard.' I could see him raising an eyebrow at my deadpan expression and could see Georg and Lavinia looking at me in shock and curiosity.' Wait the knows about my Sacred Gear . Of course he knows. Why am I not suprised ?'

In my studies of the supernatural world, the subject of Mephisto Pheles often came out. After all he is one of the most famous devils in history being the Chairman of Grauzaurberer and Leader of the Extra-Demons. He is also the second oldest devil after Zekram Bael and is said to be as strong as the current and former Maous bar Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub. He is also considered to be one the most knowledgable person in the universe.

Well that's what that Lazy Dragon, Yu-Long, told me when he'll come down to visit to tell me stories about the past.

" It seems that you will lead an interesting life Cao Cao, was it ? I nodded at him while he smirked at me." Make sure to entertain me in the future. "

I stared at him dumfounded that he would come to see me simply to tell me to entertain him in the future.

" Anyway, now that I've seen what I wanted to see , Georg, Lavi, why don't you play outside with the other kids ? I'm going to catch up with the old monkey." said Mephistpo Pheles without care.

"Cao Cao, Bikou. Show our guests around the mountain." said our master in turn.

Georg didn't seem pleased with the way Mephisto treated him like a kid and Lavinia seemed excited to see the sights.

" We are not children." mumbled Georg.

"Okay see ya later, Uncle" exclaimed Lavinia already running outside.

We all made our way to the garden near the temple. Georg seemed unintersed in everything aroud him and was trying to make a hole in my head with his staring at me from behind while Lavinia was chatting animatedly with Bikou and I.

"Hey, Cao-chan, What do you do usually in this Mountain ?" questioned Lavinia Reni, wielder of Absolute Demise while taking my arm in hers and putting it between her growing breasts. ' Wait did she call Cao-chan ?'

Damn, I've read in my past life that she was very touchy and oblivious to her beauty but I could feel the touch of her breasts in my arm and her beautiful eyes and cute face looking at me. Wait, Cao Cao, what are you thinking all of sudden ? Bad thought, go away ! She's only thirteen now at least wait a few years.

" Eat, Train and Sleep." I answered with a blush on my face while looking away from her innocent eyes.

"Huuuhhh, that's all ?! Thats not good Cao- chan, you should have fun from time to time." scolded Lavinia with puffed up cheeks.'Damn ! she's too cute !'

"Such is the life of a monk ." I said in all seriousness trying to keep lewd thoughts away.

"You're too serious Cao-" " Cao Cao like the chinese warlord." interrupted Georg . I looked behind me to see him looking at me intently.

"Yeah my buddy here is the descendant of an Hero of the Three Kingdoms." exclaimed Bikou next to me.

" Oh, what a coincidence I, too, am the descendant of a Hero. Johann Faust to be precise." mused the wielder of Dimension Lost seeming amused.

" I figured, your name give it away though I am one to talk I literally have the same name as my ancestor." I said while trying to fnd out to find out what he wants.

" According to our teacher you hold an unusual high affinity to Light magic but you are clearly human and only angels and saints blessed by God or one of his Archangels can wield holy light." continued Georg seemingly in deep thoughts."However you have even more Light in you than Saints. That could only mean one thing."

" Where are you going with this ?" I asked him while I wondered what he found out about me.

" You figured it out too, Lavinia ?" He spoke to Lavinia asking her a question and expecting her to know the answer.

" Yess !" exlaimed Lavinia looking at me cheerfully." There is only three Longinus of the thrirteen associated with Holy Light. Cao-chan either have Sephiroth Graal, Incinerate Anthem or… the True Longinus. Am I right or am I right." said the innocent girl looking at me as if she wanted me to praise her.

" So which one is it ?"

"Wow, you're good. If you want to know his Longinus is..." I immediatly put my hand on his mouth before he could blurt it out.

" Sorry but I can only inform the people I trust about my Longinus. " I explained as an excuse.

" There is no need for such thing. We have three Longinus wielders gathered here." said Georg trying to pry the information out of me." We, too, have a Longinus like you, I have Dimension Lost."

"And I have Absolute Demise so please tell me Cao-chan." said Lavinia with a smile on her cute face.

"Sorry I still can't. My Longinus makes me a target more than even you two. The less people know about me the better. I need to keep my cards close to the chest." I said firmly tying to convince them to drop it.

" Pragmatic of you, I can respect that. Very well I will not pry further." conceded Georg with Lavinia seeming mollified.

"Sorry Cao-chan."

"It's alright. Maybe in the future."

"I'll hold you to that, Cao Cao. One last thing, my teacher seemed to think that you will lead an interesting life and he doesn't say that to many people. Can I ask what you intend to do after you finish your apprenticeship under Sun Wukong ?" asked the young boy curiously.

" I'm going to protect people like me." I said with absolutly no hesitation and I could see the confusion in there faces. At that moment I wondered if I should tell them everything. If they would even listen to me but I continued resolutly.

" I will protect people like me, who had no choice in their lot in life. Take the the Sacred Gears users. Some would say that we were fortunate to be born with such powers but is that really the case ? Do you know even know any Sacred Gears users who lived a peaceful life ? No, all of them lived a dangerous life and died fighting. Supposedly, God created these tools so that we could protect ourselves and our fellow humans. What a joke ! Everyone knows that Sacred Gears are considered nothing more than tools. We are used by the devils to bloster their numbers and make their races stronger, by the Church to be used as weapons for God and by the Fallen Angels to further advance their agendas. Don't you find it strange that we are used and discarded by the same people we should protect ourselves from even though God created these tools so that we could contend with the supernatural. And yet instead of being united against adversity, we are scattered and under the thumbs of these people." I could see that my words had an effect on my audience, they were enraptured and waiting for me to continue." But those are not the only people I wish to protect ."

I breathed slowly." I have read a story once, about a girl who was a born a halfbreed between the union of a human and a fallen angel. She was hated by the members of her mother's clan and by the fallen angels alike. Her mother was later executed by her very own clan and she was hunted down by those people."

I looked at the sky and continued talking." After reading that story, I wondered how many people are like that little girl and if yes, why no one has done anything about it. These halfbreeds didn't choose how they born and yet they are most of the time hated by either one or both side of their family and they end up either exiled , hunted down or outright killed."

I looked at them with with determination and told them about my dream.

" If you wanted to know what I wanted to do then this is it. I'm going to protect these people and create a safe haven for them so that they could leave peacefully. I will succeed no matter even if I have to fight Gods, Devils and Angels to achieve it." I finally looked at my audience.

Well, I didn't expect this. They seemed to be speechless even Bikou even though he already heard about it. Georg had his mouth open and was looking at him with reverence. In fact he seemed two seconds away from kneeling and swearing his eternel allegiance to me. Damn is that Cao Cao charisma being at works.

Bikou was nodding rapidly and looking at me approvingly while Lavinia, well, she seems to be crying heavily and yet her eyes were sparkling in my direction. Wait. What is this red tint on her cheeks.

I suddenly felt something heavy on my chest hugging me closely.

" Waaaahhhh, This is so incredible Cao-Chan ! You are so amazing !" cried Lavinia on my chest. I knew that the subject about halfbreed would sting a cord in her because of Vali but not to this extent.

I could feel her breasts pressing against my chest. Damn, where is the mature and innocent beauty from canon, She acts more like Serafall Leviathan but again she's only twelve. ' I wonder what this says abot Serafall if she acts like a twelve years old.'

This is not good. At his rate I'm going to end up a pervert like everyone in this world. No, I refuse to lose my common sense because of breasts. I refuse !

" Ouf,Lavinia get off !" I said trying to pry her arms off me.

" Only if you call me Lavi. Say it ! LAVI." demanded the cheerful girl.

"Very well, Lavi get off me please." I conceded to the young witch.

"Yeahhhh !" Lavinia slowly got off me.

" Now that this is over, I have to agree with Lavinia, this is incredible. I never thought that you held such ambition." spoke Georg with admiration clear in his voice.

" Yeah it was really cool, buddy"

" Yeah I know it sounds crazy but I will not give up before I succeed." I said with a confident smile.

" Cao-chan, if you need any help you just have to call me. I'll come running !" said Lavi seriously but it only made her cuter.

"You know you can already count on me." I nodded at Bikou as he already accepted to join me after a few years.

" You can also ask me for help if you wish and while I have responsability in Grauzaurberer I will find time to help." said Georg while looking away from me.

I could see he was really sold on my dream but he was uncertain if he should commit fully and join me , the same goes for Lavinia as I could see her looks uncertaintly at the direction of the temple where Mephisto currently is. But that's fine, I'll give them a few years before I'll make my offer so that they could think about it fully.

" Now that the heavy talk is over. Lets have some fun !" exclaimed Bikou ecxitedly.

We then spend the rest of our time showing off our skills in magics, speaking about evrything and nothing. I spend most of my time chatting with Lavinia but I also talked extensively with Georg about magic theories.

Ath the end of the day we were thouroughly exhausted and it was finally time for them leave.

" Send me tons of letters Cao-Chan !" said Lavinia innocently and kissed me on the cheeks. I could hear both my master and Mephisto Pheles laughing at my blushing face.

I then said my goodbye to georg and watched them teleport back to where they come from.

" She was cute. Play your card rights and you could fuck her in a few years !" said the perverted monkey shamelessly. I immediatly summoned my True Longinus and ran after him seriously trying to kill that bastard all the while Bikou was laughing his ass off on the ground.

And this was how I met two of my future companions.

* * *

_Two years later_

Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equaling the Heaven, looked proudly at his student saying his goodbye to Bikou, his descendant. He turned fourteen this year and was already really tall for his age. With long black hair and blue eyes, young Cao Cao was wearing a chinese attire over a black japanese gakuran .'Youngsters these days, they have no taste in clothings.'

'He grow up well' thought the sage fondly.

The Old Sage could honestly say he was extremely proud of Cao Cao. It was a whim of his to take him as his disciple. True he had ambition and potential, enormous potential, he could already see it even when he was snot-nosed brat but he was not the first human or even youkais besides the members of his clan that he took as a disciple but all of them failed to learn anything from him.

And yet here is a young man who was able to succeed where everyone before him failed. He learned everything he taught to near perfection, of course not everything as some techniques are family secrets but he could still be considered his best disciple even better than Bikou who is the most talented out of all his descendants. Yes, the Buddha, could really say that he was proud of this young man.

" Shishou this is it." said his young student."Thank you for everything you've done for me. "

" No need to thank me, Cao Cao. You've realised all this through your own effort and you never needed me in the first place, you would have grown strong even without my help."

"But still I swear to one day repay my debt to you." insisted the young hero.

'Such a polite one'" I'm proud of you Cao Cao. Now go and achieve your dreams." he said while he patted him in the head.

" It is a Goodbye. Take care Shishou, you too Bikou." said Cao Cao turning around.

"Take care buddy and don't forget to come to get me from that blasted mountain when things will get interesting !" cried Bikou happy and yet sad to see his friend go without him.

"It's a promise, brother." Said Cao Cao after him." Come forth, Kinto'un." summoned Cao Cao a magic cloud that he created for him and sitting on top of it." See ya everyone."

" And don't forget to get rid of your V-card sooner than later." he teased and he could see his student nearly failing from his cloud. Shishsishsi its always fun to mess with that boy.

"Fuck youuuuu Shishou !" cried my student one last time.

'Look out world. There is a new player on the board. Shishishi.'

* * *

**Author' notes: **

**And this mark the end of the training arc. Thank you all for reading !**

**Next chapter will be the begining of Cao Cao adventures in the supernatural world.**

**PS: I need your help my dear readers. I need a maximum of information about The Slash Dog storyline especially the Fallen Dog God Series as I want Cao Cao to be involved in that mess. I know next to nothing about it apart from the characters and the general information. If yould PM me or leave information in the comments sections, that would be cool. **

**Thank you !**

**Until next time !**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello my dear readers, here is the chaper of the week.**

**I also want to thank everyone who gave me infos about Slash Dog. It helped me a lot. Most of the time you told me to read Anomaly of Rosenkreutz, one of the best DXD fic I ever read. I have read it before and it is also this fic who gave me the idea to make a Slash Dog arc but I do not plan to use his exemple too much because the author didn't use Tobio's companions from the novel like Shigenu and Suzaku Himejima. This is why I needed information from the novels so thank you everyone.**

* * *

Chapter 3 :

It's been a week since I left the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits. I've mostly been traveling with my magic cloud, Kinto'un, that I received from my teacher and looking at the sight of India and making my way to my former village in China where my parents of this world lives. I don't expect much from that encounter as they most likely resent me from leaving and solding me to slavers was the only way for them to repay their debt.

I do not remember what happened to them in canon but they are most likely crawling in debt right now. Shishou gave me many expensive riches so that I could sold them and live comfortably. I could at least give some of it to the people who, while didn't love me, still gave birth to me and fed me. I am not ungrateful and the least I could do is repay my debt to them.

Finally seeing the little village in sight I came down down from my cloud and made my way to the farm house where my parents lived. However I could sense no presence inside or even in the farm where they should be working. Having a bad feeling I went to the neighbors home to ask about their whereabouts.

I was saddened yet not suprised to hear that they died because of their debt. I didn't know how to feel about this. They may have not loved me but they were still my parents. I wondered if I should have left six years ago without leaving a word or if I should have come down earlier from the mountain to visit and repaid my debt before they died.

But they were nothing I could do for them now apart from hoping they found peace in the afterlife so I left my past behind to face the future head on and left with no regrets in my heart.

* * *

' How did this happen nya ? I was sure I escaped their notice a few days ago !' A black cat could be seen running in the woods but she was no ordinary cat. Her name is Kuroka, a former nekoshou youkai turned reincarnated devil and a SS-class Stray Devil. Behind her a dozens of people with bat-like wings were seen chasing after her launching spell after spell which she dodged swiftly.

'Devil bastard !' thought Kuroka furiously.

Kuroka has always been used to be on the run. After all she killed her devil master, a branch member of the House of Naberius and the bastard who wanted to cut her sister open and she has ever since, been hunted by the Devil Government, The Church and even the occasionnal Fallen who wanted her for her body but she always crushed them easily. In fact she killed several arrogant devils nobles and their peerages in the past and since then the devils has been leaving her alone as they didn't want more casualties to their nobility.

However the people hunting her now are clearly devils and they have been after her for months. At first it was not a problem, she easily killed them as they seemed to be weak individually but more and more came after her later and no matter how many she killed, more came later. These devils have been slowly stripping her of her strength and demonic reserves and no matter how powerful she is even she needs rest.

It became so bad that she wasn't able to sleep for an entire weeks because these bastard has been attacking her at night. What is even more strange is that they do not want her dead and has been trying to capture her alive.

' Who would want to capture me nya ?.' She tried to think of anyone who had such ressources to come after her with so many numbers.

She then felt immense pain in her side as several spells impacted her cat body. Rolling away in a small clearing, she tried to get up to no avail and she could see her pursuers catching up with her and sneering in her direction.

" After months of pursuit, it seems we finally go you, filthy cat." sneered one the devils in front of her. " I will make sure to make you pay for all our comrades you killed."

" Wait, Master told us to bring her alive." warned another devil seriously.

"Alive, yes, but it doesn't mean we can't make her feel some pain for everything that filthy youkai has done." The devil said cruelly while the devils alongside laughed with him.

This is bad. She depleted her demonic energy reserves and she is not in condition to use Youjutsu.

' Is this the end for me ? she thought in despair. " I'm….sorry..Shirone."

"Huh ?! What did you say, whore." snarled the devil but before he could take a step forward.

" **Light Sword Of Judgement**." said a voice coming from behind her and she could see that the devil who was speaking got impaled by several swords made of light.

The devil cried out in pain and immediately disintegrated under the shocked eyes of her attackers and herself. The remaining devils started panicking and immediately began preparing spells. " Come out, you coward."

The voice of a man could be heard all around them "If that is what you wish but first, **Heaven-splitting Flash**." Several beams of light came out from all around the devils and mercylessly killed all the devils touched by the spell of light, a light that only a Angel could wield.

For a moment Kuroka wondered if an angel actually came to rescue her but she never was that lucky before and angels usually never come out of Heaven these days .

The devils were getting desperate as she could see in their erratic behaviour by doing everything in their powers to survive even if they had sacrifice their weaker comrades by putting them in the line of fire. They must have come to the same conclusion as her. That, somehow, an angel actually came down to kill them.

By the end of the onslaught, she could see that two-third of the squad of at least fitfy devils who've hunting her has been utterly decimated by the attack.

The devils were catching their breath when her savior finally made his presence known.

" Hoh, you survived. " mused the young man appearing next to her." You must be stronger than I thought or maybe it is I who didn't put enough effort in killing you all."

Her savior was a black-haired young man wearing chinese attire over a a gakuran. What shocked her was not the fact that her savior was a human who could use Holy Light but the fact that she could sense an enormous amount of nature energy tightly condensed inside the human's body.

She realised that she was looking at an impossibility, a human who can use Holy Light and who is also a Senjutsu Master.

The devils were as shocked as her that it was not an angel but a mere human who slaughtered their forces but that shock soon turned into anger and rage.

" You filthy human, how could you, mere trash beneath our feets, dare to attack us. KILL HIM !" snarled one of the survivors angryly.

All the devils launched a barrage of spells toward the young man. It seemed that the devils convinced themselves that a mere human stood no chance against them and that earlier attack was just a fluke. After all what could an human do against them alone even if he could wield Holy Light and yet…

" **Shinra Tensei**." The young man intoned and all the devils attacks impacted against…something that dispelled every spell as if they were never used in the first place.

Kuroka could see that devils were baffled that their onslaught against this human but before they could gather their wits, the young man _moved_, as if he teleported,ending up right in front of the leading devil.

Kuroka could see that his muscles were enhenced by magic but what shocked her more was the powerful Touki surrounding both his body and the beautiful spear that he didn't have in his hand not even a second ago.

" **Piercing the Sky Art : Slash.**" with a single slash from his spear, all the devils were cut in two at the same time. The devils died with a look of incomprehension etched on their faces.

Coming out of her shock, Kuroka realised that her attackers ,who have been harrassing her for months were dead, and that the young man was coming near her.

For a moment she wondered if she should run away. Her magic reserves recovered a little and she had enough power to use a teleportation spell. However her instinct as well as the warm aura of natural energy coming from him were telling her to stay. She decided to give at least a chance to her saviour and she would see how it goes.

" What could a bunch of devils would want with such a cute little cat ? "said the handsome young man crouching in front of her. He then picked her up and looked at her with a warm smile."Come on, lets get your injuries treated and buy you some food."

' Food nya !' thought Kuroka ecxitedly and waggling her tail. ' A Senjutsu Master who can wield Holy Light, who saved her from whatever the devils wanted to do with her and who is polite enough to offer her food. Maybe he could be the one nya !' purred Kuroka in her mind and looking forward to make the acquaintance of the most interesting person she has ever seen.

X

I, Cao Cao, Wielder of the Ultimate Longinus and Disciple of Sun Wukong, was in a precarious situation. Outwardly I may have looked calm and in perfect control but my mind was another matter entirely.

' Argh, What the fuck did I do ? What am I going to do now ?' I raged in my mind.

Looking at the cute little black cat healed of all injuries and devouring a tuna fish like there was no tomorrow, I wondered how I ended up in this situation.

I was simply making my way to Romania when I felt the natural energy in the air becoming erratic. Such a thing only open when a Senjutsu user try to acces natural Ki forcefully. Only an amateur or a Senjutsu user on his last legs would do such a thing and I was pretty sure it was the latter.

So I went to the wood where I felt the disturbance and looked for that someone. My Sage Arts immediately alerted me of the presence of a Senjutsu master nearby and I could also feel the corrupted aura that only a devil can have. I stayed hidden at a safe distance and what greeted me was seemingly a little black cat being pursued by a dozen of devils.

I could also see a weird mixture of a reincarnated devil and a Youkai in the cat's aura and immediately guessed that it was Kuroka, the SS'class Stray Devil. I was suprised to see Kuroka having trouble with a bunch of weak devils but I guessed that she must have been ambushed.

Seeing the opportunity to help someone I already wanted to save in the first place, I took out the majority of the devils forces from afar with my Light Magic and dispatched the survivors in close quarters combat.

I then took her to an inn, brought her food, healed her injuries and here we are now, me with a dangerous stray devil eating tuna fish in my room and not knowing what to do with her.

I can already hear Bikou voice in my head saying ' But Cao Cao, my buddy, Isn't the kitty cat prime candidate material for your little group ? Why don't you ask her to join you ?'

However there is a huge problem with this. The problem being that it is too damn early to recruit Kuroka to my cause. Indeed I realised a long time ago that if I want to create an organisation of Sacred Gear Users and outcasts wich will act as the police of the supernatural world and also create a safe haven for these people then I will need the support of powerful figures. These figures being people like the Great Seraphs, Azazel or even the Maous.

After all if I do not have the support of such people, my future organisation would be destroyed in an heartbeat by powerful forces who wouldn't like that mere humans dare to get in their way but if I were to create a partnership or alliance with powerful people then they would think twice before harming me and mine. Such a strategy could be used until my future organisation grow strong enough, politically and militarily to fend off any attackers.

I also needed to build a reputation so that I could make recruitment easier. After all who would follow a strange boy no one ever heard about. I didn't know how the original Cao Cao recruited the members of the Hero Faction apart from showing off his shiny spear but I didn't plan to follow his exemple.

However to gain their support and build a reputation I would have to join temporarily one of the three factions. The Devil Faction was out. I wouldn't throw away my humanity even if it was possible for me to become a reincarnated devil. This left the Heaven Faction by becoming an exorcist and Grigori by becoming one of their agent.

I didn't see the point in joining the Grigori as I didn't think it would be that difficult to make an alliance with Azazel and I could still have his support even if I was an exorcist I chose the most difficult path to become an exorcist and gain the favor of one the Seraph. Difficult because I would have to deal with the corruption of The Church but it was a reasonable choice as the greatest number of potential companions were in The Church.

But taking Kuroka could upset all of my carefully made plans. After all how could I go to join the Church if I were to come to the Vatican with a literal Stray Devil on my shoulder.

Looking at the black cat who seemed content to stay in her cat form and hiding her identity from me, I realised that she finished her tuna fish and was looking at me intently.

Finding the way she was looking at me creepy, I decided to make conversation.

" So… you wouldn't know why these devils were after you ?" Kuroka shaked head from side to side.

" I thought so…" with the cat still looking at me." Anyway I realised I didnt introduce myself." I said instead." My name is Cao Cao. Yes, like the Chinese Warlord." I nodded rapidly at her questioning glance well I think it was a questioning glance." He was my ancestor. Well that's what the Old Monkey told me." I answered at her raised raised eyebrows.

I could see her eyes widening at the information and I decided to test her and see if she would break character and reveal herself to me." So… you wouldn't happen to have a name ?" No answer." Does it begin with Kuro... ? Still no anwer .

' Maybe she doesn't trust me yet.'I thought while sighing.

" I'm too tired for this." I said tiredly while going toward the direction of my bed. "I'm going to sleep. I'll deal with you tomorrow."

Closing my eyes and feeling sleepy, I looked at the black cat direction and said.

"Goodnight…Kuroka."

X

Kuroka looked at the sleeping form of her saviour and debated on what to do. Should she run away while he is sleeping or stay with him and satiate her curiosity ? After all this young man, Cao Cao, know her identity and didn't try to kill her like all the others. Moreover He didn't show an ounce of prejudice toward her despite her being a stray.

Everyone always showed disdain toward her and her fellow Stray Devils. In fact most people look at the hunts of Stray Devil as some kind of Sport or as a game to gain combat experience from and yet he, Cao Cao treated her warmly, healed her injuries and bought her food. For first time since she heard about her sister becoming a pet for the Gremory girl she was uncertain of her next course of action.

She had a feeling that he wouldn't mind if she were to choose to follow him or at least wouldn't be opposed to it but would that really be in her interest to do this.

On one hand he saved her from being captured, raped and killed by these devils, he is also a fellow Senjutsu master which is near impossible for a human. On the other hand he can wield Holy Light better than any Fallen Angels she has seen and she had a feeling that being near him would lead her into danger.

But more importantly there was the fact that he was the descendant of a Hero and talked about an Old monkey. There is only one person with that moniker in the supernatural world. That person being Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equaling the Heaven. Taking account of the fact that this young man is a Senjutsu master and seems to know The Victorious Fighting Buddha personally there is only one conclusion she could come to.

Cao Cao is the disciple of the King of Monkeys and Indra's Vanguard, Sun Wukong. Knowing this she finally made her choice.

Kuroka was a simple woman with simple needs and right in front of her was the perfect candidate for her plan. After all who can be better than a Hero Descendant who learned Senjutsu from the Greatest Sage himself and who can use Holy Light better than any Fallen Angels she has seen.

So she smiled hungrily in Cao Cao's direction, took off her clothes and layed naked next to him while taking his arm and putting it between her breasts. Sighing contently, she felt as if she slept next to him all her life.

X

Smiling contently I sinked deeper into my pillow and enjoyed the soft feeling it gave me. It was as if he was between a pair of breasts. ' Wait, breasts ?' opening my eyes wide I looked up to see a beautiful woman with cat ears and amber eyes looking at me mischievously.

I immediately pushed her away already missing the feeling of her huge breasts and looked at her in shock.

" W-who are you ? W-where is the cat ?" I feigned ignorance with a confused look on my face.

" You're so cute nya !" She squealed looking at me." No need for such thing nya, I know that you know who I am nya. You said it accidentely before sleeping."

" Me and my big mouth." I face-palmed." Very well Kuroka, may I know what you are going to do from now on ?" I said directly going directly to the crust of the matter.

" I'm going to follow you !" She said happily.

'huh' it tooks me a few second for my mind to reboot. I sighed and realised I had no choice anymore. After all what kind of person I would be if I abandon hernow when she wants to come with me.

" Very well, you can come with me." She looked at me suprised by my rapid acceptance. "But there is something you need to know. I plan to join the Church and work as an Exorcist for a few years. "

She didn't seem put off by this but she looked uncertain for a moment and the she shrugged as if it didn't matter. " I can hide my devils aura and stay as a cat when there are people around you nya and besides the people looking for me would never looks in the Vatican to find me. It's the perfect hiding place nya !"

" Okay…if its fine with you." I said sceptically and looked back at her to see her looking at me strangely.

" Why do you not hate me" she asked me curiously.

"Huh, Why would I hate you ?" I asked her not understanding her question.

" I am known as a Stray Devil who went mad with power because of Senjutsu and killed my Devil Master and yet, you , a future exorcist, have not only saved me but already knew who I was and didn't try to kill me on the spot nya." She explained seriously looking at me with wondering eyes."So why do you not hate me and do not try to kill me, like everyone nya."

" Because I know that what the devils said was bullshit." She stared at me, her eyes opening wide. " Just by looking at your aura, I got the feeling that you are a good person. So I decided to help you and hear you out. It is as simple as that." I continued." More than that, Senjutsu Master going mad with power ? Don't make me laugh ! You and I both know that a Senjustsu practionner who reached mastery can not be touched by the malice of the world anymore, and you were already known as a master when you were still in this devil's peerage. If you killed your King you must have had a good reason." She flinched in shock suprised by my deduction or maybe it was because I was the first person who told her she was innocent but I wasn't finished." I never liked this double standard in devil society as if the master can do no wrong and that it is always the fault of the servant." I explained further." After all there is many devils out there who tricks or force people into there peerage and if they try to escape, they will become a Stray all the while the the Devils will face no repercussions for their actions because such a thing is perfectly normal in their society."

There was no word to describe the hatred and injustice I felt toward the peerage system created by Ajuka Beelzebub. In my eyes it was nothing more than a elaborate and sublte way to enslave other races. I just have to take that worm, Diodora Astaroth as an exemple to prove my point.

I can understand that the devils wanted to repopulate their races and that they created the Strays to protect the Kings from harm but the fact they literraly own the people in every senses of the way always give me a sick feeling in my stomach. It's even worse when you take into account that the devil's laws advantage the high-class devils and they will never be punished for their actions all the while an innocent stray will be hunted and killed for sports.

Looking back at Kuroka, I could see that my words had a an effect on her. She was staring at me with eyes and mouth wide open. She mumbled something under her breath and started laughing hysterically, her big breasts bouncing.I looked away blushing It was very embarrassing for me because I realised that she was naked during our entire conversation and that I only became embarrassed after my long tirade.

The laughter stopped and she cupped my cheeks between her hands looking at me intently.

" Lets make a baby nya." She blurted with a hungry smile on her face while putting her beautiful breasts in display for my eyes.

" Huh" I said dumbly.

She put her arms around my neck and her lips were centimeters away from mine.

" I want you to put tons of kitties in my belly nya." She said sensualy.I could feel her breath but before she could go further, my brain rebooted and I pushed her away.

" Not now Kuroka, I do not plan to be a father anytime soon." I said seriously looking at her her in the eyes trying not to look below at her pink nipples. Kuroka stopped what she was doing and looked at me smiling mischievously in my direction.

"Huh, Why are you looking at me like that ?" I asked her in confusion.

" You said not now. It means that you accepted to become the father of my children nya." she said simply and then she purred in my direction." But we can at least have ton of sex before having kids nya." she the pounced at me and tried get me off of my pants.

" Wait K-Kuroka, S-Stop." I said in panic trying to fend her away.

And this how my first companion joined me.

X

" What happened ?"

"We failed my Lord. She escaped."

" How ?"

" I apologize my Lord but I do not know. I found the last hunters somewhere in Romania and they were all dead."

" I thought that she was on her last legs, She shouldn't have been capable of killing an entire unit of hunters."

" I believe that she had help my Lord."

" I do not care that she had help, what I care is that you find her."

" I am sending our best unit after her. It will be done."

" We need her at all cost for the times to come. She is only one who have information about my foolish nephew's research on Super Devil."

" If it isn't too much to ask my Lord why don't we kidnap her sister. She must have information too."

" Don't be foolish, she is under the protection of the Crimson Satan. It would be suicide to go after her. Kuroka is the one we need right now so capture her at all cost."

" Your wish is my command, Lord Naberius."

* * *

**Author's notes :**

**Thank you for reading !**

**This chapter mark the introduction of Kuroka as Cao Cao's first companion. I hope you liked the way Kuroka joined.**

**Next chapter will be about Cao Cao pissing of vampires or is it the other way around ?**

**PS : I have many people asking me about the pairings. The only thing I can tell is that it will be harem and that I do not know who will be in it bu I want to try to make it mostly of unused characters in fanfic so no Rias, Akeno etc. I also do not want it to be too big ( 4 to 7 max). You should also know that romance will not have a big part in my story, I'll try to put some scene here and there for character devoloppment but that's all I can promise you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here is the second chapter of the week. I had some time off so I spend all day writing this chapter. Lucky you !**

**Please Enjoy !**

* * *

After fending off Kuroka from sexually harassing me the entire morning, we finally went on our way to our destination. I was still kind of unsure about Kuroka accompanying me or even her wanting me as the father of her children. I was suprised that she chose me in the first place as I didn't have powerful genes compared to literal dragonborn like Issei and Vali apart from being the descendant of a Hero but I guessed that a fellow Senjutsu Master would be more attractive for her.

I could be considered a foul to refuse a sexy a woman as Kuroka but I couldn't let her make me think with my head down below because I need my actual head for the times to come. I have to many things to accomplish before I could think of a relationship. Maybe in the future but not now when I have accomplished nothing.

Kuroka and I were currently sitting in my magic cloud, Kinto'un. She didn't seem suprised by its appearence and simply mumbled that it was expected from the disciple of Sun Wukong. She was sitthing behind, her arms around me and her breasts pressing against my back. She was clearly enjoying the situation if her smile and my blushing face was any indication. I already given up in trying to stop her from keeping her hands off my body so I tried to make myself as indifferent as possible to show her that her sexy body had no effect on me. Clearly that wasn't working.

"Tell me darling." She called me out using her nickname for me, I could feel her breath in my ear and feel my body shudder. Not working at all, my ass. " Why are we still in Romania ? Didn't you plan to go to the Vatican ?"

"I plan to but I need to check on something in the Tepes territory." I told her trying to keep a poker face to her seduction tactics.

" Tepes ?" she mumbled, her eyes opening wide." Darling, this is not a good idea. The vampires are very territorial and hate all outsiders nya." She said warningly.

" I know but it will only be a small stop." I rassured her with a smile." It's only a reconnaissance mission."

" Well if you says so, darling." she said sceptically but trusted my judgement.

We came down in the ground hiding our presence with the Sage Arts and made our way to the Tepes Castle that we could see in the distance. There was also a small village close to the castle and we decided to stay here for the night and gather information. Night was coming and it was better to rest for the night and check on the person I came to see during the day when the vampires would be asleep.

Valerie Tepes. She was the person I came to check on and the reason I came to Romania and into dangerous vampire territory. I needed to know if she still has the three Holy Grail which are part of her subspecies Sacred Gear, Sephiroth Graal so I could plan accordingly in the future.

I couldn't save her from that place for now even if the Tepes Faction was not under the control of Marius Tepes and thus in the hands of Rivezim. Despite the fact that taking her away from the Tepes could literally stop the Son Of Lucifer in his plans to free Trihexa but I simply didn't have the pull to avoid the political shitstorm that I could make by saving her and would also changes all my plans as I couldn't take her with me to the Vatican.

Kuroka was one thing she could hide her devil aura and could turn herself into cat but Valerie would be recognized as a damphyr in an heartbeat. I would also most likely be hunted by the Tepes Faction, Qlippoth and the Khaos Brigade to the ends of Earth, the Underworld and even Heaven if I were to take her as I am now. I needed to have pulls politically and powerful forces to fend off the people who would want the Grails without too much damage to myself and those around me but I was still at the begining of my journey and haven't created my organisation yet.

It left me a sour taste in my mouth to leave a young girl to her suffering but I would create more problems by saving her now than in the future when I will have more power to act without grave consequences. I promised myself that when I etablished myself in this world as a powerful figures, I would save her the first chance I get.

Kuroka and I were making our way to the inn of the village with Kuroka, in her cat form, hiding under my gakuran. We were also both feeling very uncomfortable by the aura of despair and negativity that we could feel through our Sage Arts permeating the air of the village. The village looked normal at first glance but it was clear there was something very wrong with this place if the sombre looks of the inhabitants was any indication. I could also see that the numbers of woman in this village was unnaturally high. They were also all looking at me with pity as if saying that I shouldn't have come to this place and everytime I tried to ask them someting about the castle they would look at me in fear and run away. There was definitely something strange about this villlage.

Having enough of theirs looks I entered the inn and tried to question the woman at the counter for information but before I could she looked at me right in the eyes and said." Kid, you should leave the village immediately." I was suprised at the grave seriousness of her voice but before I could answer.

"This is not a place for tourist. Run before it's too late." the woman said sounding pleading.

" I don't understand, why should I run ?" I said confused by her choice her word. I could also see Kuroka peeking from under my gakuran looking at the woman curiously.

" Tell me boy, do you know the name of our village."I shook my head in the negative." this place is called the Fullmoon Village and today…today is the full moon." just as she said that I felt a cold feeling in my bones and could suddenly hears children and womans screams coming from outside.

I hurriedly made my way outside while the woman was shooting at me to hide.

What greeted was a scene only seen in horror movies. There was several woman and young children being dragged by a group of five men. 'Vampires.'my mind supplied.

I could see that one of them was already bitting the neck of a young girl and draining her of her blood. It was her scream that I heard. I called out to them angrily."Stop this immediately."

All of looked at me with eyes full of arrogance and anticipation.

" Who is this boy ? I've never seen him before." said one vampire to his comrades, not even paying to me.

" Who cares ? Let's play with him for a bit before going back to the castle." said another, releasing one of his would-be victims and casually making his way toward me.

Such arrogance. I heard that the vampires were even worse than devils as they looks down on every other races than theirs but to think that they would dismiss me entirely as a threat. Their arrogance would be their downfall. While the vampires were looking at the show in anticipation of my gruesome death, at least that's what they seemed to think, I took advantage of their distraction and told Kuroka to discretly take the would-be kidnapped woman and children to safety and assured her that evrything would be fine.

The foolish vampire was coming toward me with an arrogant smile on his face as if they were absolutely no threat to his life. In fact that's exacly how he died, with a smile on his face and a sword made of light coming out of his back. I smirked at the vampire's body slowly disintegrating and the looks of shocks and incomprehension on the remaining ennemies face but before they could regain their wits, I pointed two of my fingers upward.

" **Wood Release : Wood Bind Hostage**." I said. Several routs sprouted from the ground and immobilised the remaining vampires. I never planned to fight them in close quarters in the middle of the village as it could lead to casualties and besides I have questions for these scums.

" Release us immediately, you filthy human." snarled one of the vampires angrily.

" No, not before you all answered my questions." I said, even if I fully planned to kill them after the interrogation."Why did you try to kidnap these people in the open. You know that this is against the unwritten rules." I asked them sternly

The Unwritten Rules are something tha no people from the supernatural can violate unless they want all the pantheons and Factions to come down on their head. There are rules that were made by the Heaven Faction a few centuries ago. Rules supposedly made by God even though the God Of the Bible was already dead during that period. My Teacher told me that it was a plot made by Michael sublty backed by the Maous, the Watchers of Grigori and several Factions gods. They were instaured as a way to keep the peace and the existance of the supernatural world from the mundane world. They go like this : Do not reveal the existence of the supernatural to mundane unless they made a contract beforehand, do not fight in the open where the mundane humans can see you, do not involve yourself in the politics and economy of the mundane world and finally do not harm mundane people though that rule was twisted to become do not harm mundanes where others can seeand that mundane with sacred gears were free game as these people are toeing the line between mundane and supernatural. This rule is the one I hate the most as it basically say that it is okay to hurt normal humans as long that no one from the mundane world know about it.

However these rules are also a blessing for normal humans as it would have led the world to anarchy if it wasn't for them. These rule are the reasons why Stray Devils do not rampage in the open and why vampires feed only when there is no one around. And yet these vampires in front of me transgressed three of these rules as if they didn't matter. If it was a common occurrence here, and if the looks around me were any indication it seemed to be, the Church would have made inquiries a long time ago.

Looking at the binded vampires, I could see their forms trembling and then they were all laughing as if my question was completely stupid. Having enough of their mockery, I made my bind tighter and could hear the satisfaying crack of bones while they cried out in pain.

" Why are you laughing ?" I griited my teeth and asked, the anger getting to me.

Y-you d-don't know. Of course you don't know." said one of them still laughing despite the pain." Look around, you stupid human. Do you not the feel the despair and helplessness of the villagers ? Do you not feel the shame and guilt of these cattles, uncapable of saving their friends and family." I looked around me and I could see that he was right, they were all looking at the scene with wide eyes but no one was trying to go back inside their home, to safety. It was as if…as if they were used to it and it was when I connected the dots " You understand now. " he said with a condescending smile." This village is part of the Tepes Faction. All of these people belong to us. They are our food, our cattle, our playthings. We can do whatever we want with them and no one can do anything about it." he said laughing all the while ." Now release us and we will be merciful."

I said nothing because my mind was a whirlwind of emotions. I didn't understand what he was saying. Food ? Cattle ? The village being owned by the Tepes. It also means that the Church most likely know about it but I didn't understand is why they have done nothing about it as hurting people belonging to their territory should be a clear violation of the rules and yet they've let this continue for who know how long. When I came out of my thought I realised that the leading vampire was still talking.

" It seems that you do not want to listen. Very well I will make sure to make your death painful." he said while laughing and then he tried to do…something and realised that it didn't work ." Why ?! Why can't I turn into bats and free myself." he said frustrated while the other vampires tried to do the same thing.

Trying to change his form when binded by these roots is useless as they are infused with natural energy. My Wood magic is special in the sense that it can be used alongside Senjutsu and disturb the life force of my opponent and it was the least I could do with it.

Having enough of their rambling and meaningless threats, I decided to end this.

" **Wood Release : Life Drain**." Using my roots as a medium, I literally drained the life out of the Vampires. As my roots were pulsing green with energy and draining their life force, I could see the vampires aging right in front of me, their body becoming frailer and decrepit. I sucked their life dry despite their cries of suffering, a fitting end for vampires. I didn't think of the consequences and merely wanted to inflict the same pain they gave to the villagers until they were nothing more than ashes.

Seeing that the vampires were finally dead and nothing more than ashes on the ground, I looked around me at the inhabitants of the Fullmoon Village staring at me silently in shock and horror. However there was something else in their gaze, it was as if their eyes were telling me that I shouldn't have done what I have done.

I suddenly stiffened as someone took my forearm in their hand. Looking at the owner of the hand, I could see that it was woman from the inn. She was looking at me with no expression on her face.

" Come with me, now." she said or rather demanded me, already dragging me to her inn. I let her as I was still confused about what the bloodsuckers said and the reactions of the villagers. I had questions, a lot of questions even though I feared that I already know the answer and that it would be one I would really hate.

She took to one of her free room and looked at me with no expression on her face. Having enough of her stare I opened my mouth to say something but she intervened before I could.

" Tell me , boy. What is your name ?" she asked me.

I looked at her in confusion but I answered her nonetheless. "Cao Cao, my name is Cao Cao."

" Right my name is Akatrina, anyway you shouldn't have done what you did." She simply said .

" What ?! Killing the bloodsuckers ?!" I looked at her in shock. Is she reproching me of killing these scum ? " They were going to take these woman and children and were going to hurt them. I had to do something."

" Yes, they were going to hurt them but it is perfectly normal for this village." She simply told me with no emotion.

I looked at her in astonishement. I already gathered that it was a common occurrence but why didn't they try to inform someone. " Normal ? What do you mean normal ? This village may be part of the Tepes territory but it is forbidden to hurt someone from your territory especially if you it is a village full of humans. You could have found a way to tell the Church and they would have surely send representatives to deal with this."

My answer finally cracked her emotionless mask but not in the way I expected. She started laughing but what chilled me to the bones was that it was not one of mockery. No, it was one full of anger and despair.

"Hhahahaha ! The Church ?! Humans ?! Y-you really know nothing." she said while laughing. Then finally regaining the control of her laughter, she looked at me intently. " Look at my eyes and tell me what do you see ?"

I looked at her eyes like she asked me and was shocked that they turned from brown to a weak red color. " You're a Damphyr." I said in realisation.

" Damphyr ? No, that I am not. My Grandmother was one but I only have a quarter of dhampyr blood."

Her answer made me realise something, the reason why the Church wouldn't help them. It was obvious when I thought about it now. The Church only cares about humans, they wouldn't have gone out of their way to help these people if they were all like her.

"Then…all the people here…they… ?"I tried to ask through my conflicted emotions.

" We all have inhuman blood flowing in our bodies. Not only that of vampires but of several supernatural species." she said with a self-depreciating smile.

" What is this this village ?" I asked her in anger and frustration even though I had a good idea about it but I wanted to be sure." Please, tell me."

Her expression softened and she started talking." It all started a few centuries ago when the unwritten rules were first instaured. These rules were a really big problem for the Tepes Faction back then. After all, vampires are the natural predator of the human race and yet the angels asked or rather ordered them to stop feeding on human. Of course no vampires followed them and they would go to human cities and feed on a few woman here and there but the problem was that too many of them would prey on humans and they were not very discreet about it. The Church quickly learned about it and they send someone to solve the problem. The vampires dismissed the threat entirely as they never thought that a mere human organisation would dare to make demand of them. But what they didn't expect was that it was not an human exorcist who came to them but an angel, and not any angel. Heaven sent one the the Great Seraph, the Archangel of Fire, Uriel to make an exemple out of the Tepes Faction." I was shocked by her words, to thinks that an Archangel would come down for this, Michael really wanted the unwritten rules to be followed. " That day, Uriel killed hundreds of nobles and executed the previous Tepes King, Vlad III to show the world that the rules must be followed. The Tepes Faction were subsantially cowed by Heaven but that doesn't mean they've given up on feeding on human even though the nobles doesn't really need blood to survive. And one day they found a loophole in the unwritten rules." there was anger in her voice as well as helplessness." They kidnapped a dozen of human women, a few lone youkais as well as some fallen angel haldbreed abandonned by their parents and even a few low-class devils. They needed some diversity you see, after all vampires do not like to eat the same thing everyday."

" What…what did they do to these people ?" I asked in anticipation even though I already know the answer.

" The vampires raped and impregnated them, all of them." She said in anger and my fists clenched and I could feel my anger coming to the surface." After the woman gave birth to the dhampyrs, the nobles hide the woman and their offsprings for decades so that no factions would hear of what they've done and when the children reached adulthood, they killed the mothers and created the Fullmoon Village. A village that would serve as a feeding place for the vampires, the people here treated as cattle, slave and toys even though some of them were their children." I was repulsed by what she was saying and I could feel my anger growing. I know that vampires hated other races and even their own children if they had human blood but to think that they would go this far."The Church of course learned about this village but they were nothing they could do as we all have vampires blood and are technically part of the Tepes Faction sot they turned their eyes the other way and acted as if we didn't exist. All of the people in this village are descendants of these first dhampyrs and every few years they would take some of us, get them pregnant and a new batch of food would be born and that cycle has been repeating again and again for centuries now."

I stared at her in shocked silence but she was not finished." The people you killed were the hunting party of this month. This is why I told you that you shouldn't have done this. The nobles will learn about it, they will get angry and they will most likely take it out on us."

I looked at my feet in shame and guilt but I could also feel body trembling. Shaking in anger and Rage. I honestly never felt so angry in my life, both of them. I wanted to summon my True Longinus and slaughter every single vampires of the Tepes Faction. But before I lashed out I felt something touching my leg. Looking down, I could see that it was a black cat touching me with her paw and looking at me sadly. ' Kuroka' I thought regaining control of my emotions.

The woman of the inn, Akatrina, put her hands on my shoulders. " You should leave. There is nothing you can do for us. We were doomed centuries ago and we will be doomed for centuries more." She said sadly." Thank you for trying." And then she left without another word.

I was left in silence, lost in my thought but I suddenly roared in anger and fustration. I then tried to punch the wall with all my power but a barrier formed in front of me.

" Darling, Cao Cao, calm down, This…this is not your fault." Kuroka said softly with her hands in front of her maintening the barrier.

" Not my fault you say?! Because of my thoughtless actions they will suffer even more." I cried in anger, cursing my stupidity." The people of this village are part of the people that I want to save and protect and like an idiot I made their situation even worse." I was angry, angry beyond belief. Here is a place, full of opressed people that I wanted to help since I was a child and there is absolutely nothing I can do to help apart from waiting for a few years to etablish myself and leaving them to their suffering. How pathetic that the first step toward my dream would result in such a failure. I want to save and protect the weak and the opressed, create a safe haven for them and yet How could I succeed if I can't even help these villagers ? It's as if Fate is spiting on my dream.

" There is nothing you can do for them , darling. You want to become an exorcist and the Church won't involve themselves with this even if you tried and besides if you were to suceed in the future in taking them away, you would be hunted down by the Tepes and the Church may even give you away as a peace offering to keep the status quo intact nya." she tried to convince me though I could see the anger and frustration in her eyes at the situation of the villagers.

" No, I will help them. How can I look at myself in the mirror and achieve my dream if I can't even save these people." I said resolutely.

" Your dream.. ?" she looked at me for askance and I realised that I never told her of my dreams and plans for the future so I told her. Told her about my dream, the organisation and safe haven that I wanted to create to protect the opressed and why I wanted to protect them. I even told her about Valerie Tepes so she could understand my reason for coming here.

" I want to save and protect the people of this village. People like Valerie Tepes. People like you, Kuroka." I said looking away from her and thinking of my failure to help the people of this place.

Looking back at Kuroka, I could see her looking at me with wide eyes and staring at me as if she'd never seen me before and then she launched herself at me and put her lips on mine. I was suprised by her actions but I was too tired from this day to push her her sensual body pressing against mine, I could feel her tongue trying to enter my mouth and I did my hardest not to moan at the feeling but I pushed her away gently and stopped her from going further.

"Kuroka, this is not the time for this." I said with a blush on my face despite the situation.

" Ah, sorry darling. I..I couldn't help myself nya." she said finally regaining control of her. " It's just that I am so happy to have made the right choice nya." she told me with a warm and happy smile.

Looking away from her innocent smile lest I do something that I would certainly not regret but was not the right moment for these kind of things. Silently thanking Kuroka for taking my mind away from my anger, I started to think rationnaly about the situation. Kuroka was right in the sense that I couldn't take the villagers away from this away for now. I do not have the power and ressources to protect and taking them to a safe place where they wouldn't be found by the Tepes. It would be ill-advised to act rashly and provoke the King of the Tepes while I haven't created my organisation and safe haven but leaving both the people of Fullmoon Village and Valerie Tepes behind made my stomach sick.

Wait ? Valerie, she is the solution to my problem. I may not be able to save the villagers now but I could certainly take Valerie with me. It would be difficult to take her to the Church with me but I know that I can find a solution for this. It was time that I stopped acting like a coward and acted. To think that I fully intended to leave Valerie because it was convenient. No, I won't make that mistake, I will at least save her. Not only would it deprive the Tepes Faction and Qlippoth of a precious and unrepleacable asset but I can do it in such a way that it would severely weaken the Tepes Faction and attract the attention of the Carmilla Faction who would certainly takes advantage of such a would also give some respite to the villagers, I know that it would be only temporary but it is the best I can do now.

Making my decision, I looked back at Kuroka who was looking at me intently and hungrily. " We're going to attack the Tepes Castle." I told her seriously.

She was shocked by my word and immediately tried to dissuade me " What ?! This is suicide, darling. We are strong but we will not be able to kill all the vampires by ourself nya."

" I do not plan to. This is nothing more than a distraction." I told her." While I occupy the vampires, you will take Valerie Tepes away from the castle."

"You can't go alone Cao Cao !" Kuroka cried out, not wanting me to be hurt." The Tepes King is an Ultimate-class Vampire and even if you suceed and escape they will hunt us down to the end of the earth. You will never be able to achieve your dream if you do this."

I know this. This is why I will not attack them as Cao Cao. I thought of creating another identity a few years, one as Cao Cao, the Senjutsu Master, wielder of Houtengeki and user of wood magic and another who would act in the shadows and would have been the wielder of the True Longinus and user of Holy light but I dismissed that idea because it would have restrained my full capabilities too much and was also too risky. However it seems that I have no choice anymore. I created a mask with my wood magic and put it on my face. It was a simple white mask with two rectangular eyeholes then I put my chinese kimono away and materialised a black roble which I wore outside my gakuran.

" That is only if they know my identity. It is not Cao Cao, the Senjutsu Master who will attack them. No it will be someone else entirely and besides they will be too scared to think of who I am when they will see this." I summoned my True Longinus and held it tightly in my hand. Looking at Kuroka, I could see that she was shocked by the power she felt from my Sacred Gear and I'm pretty sure that she already deduced what my spear is and who I truly am.

" Y-you are…this spear… !" she stuttered in shock and she started laughing hysterycally. " Hhahhaahha, y-you really are the one nya."

I smirked beneath my mask and looked at Kuroka right in the eyes. " We will show these worms who are really the preys and who are truly the predator." I said viciously and looked outside at the Tepes Castle that we could see in the distance.

Kuroka stopped laughing and looked at me with a vicious and predatory smile. It was stretching from ear to ear and she really looked like a cat at this moment.

Though I was sure that her smile was not as vicious and bloodthirsty as the one I was hiding beneath my mask.

* * *

**Author's notes :**

**Thank you for reading !**

**Well this chapter turned pretty dark really fast. Though this chapter may be the darkest I will write for this story. Anyway the purpose of this chapter was to teach my MC an important lesson, that he can't save everyone and to show him the horrors that we can find in the supernatural.**

**Cao Cao has always been aware of these horrors and atrocities perpretated in the supernatural world. After all it is one of the reasons why he want to create a safe haven for the oppressed but he never observed or experienced these horrors himself and in this chapter he has seen how cruel some supernatural creatures can be. It will make him and his resolve stronger down the road but he is still pretty broken up about it and see this as a failure. It is also the reason he impulsely decided to save Valerie even though he was saying the contrary at the begining of the chapter. After all if you were in his place and had to leave not only a girl abused by her family but also an entire village then you too will feel sick to your stomach and would want to save at least save one of them. So he changed his mind and decided to save the person he would most likely be capable of saving and take to safety. He needed to prove himself that he could do it, that he can save someone and that he is not a failure. My Cao Cao is not perfect gary sue who resolve all problems easily, he has flaws. Maybe it would be better to save both the villagers and Valerie when he is more powerful, with more backup and etablished himself as a feared individual but he is not thinking straight right now. **

**Though he may have found a good solution to avoid reprisals by creating a secret identity but that identity will restrain his public one and even with this he may not be able to hide forever and he will have to one day face the many ennemies that he is going to make in the next chapter.**

**Don't worry we will see the villagers again in the future though not for a long time from now. He do not plan in anyway to abandon them to their fate.**

**Next Chapter we have Cao Cao attacks the Tepes Castle and butcher his way through an horde of vampires.**

**Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here is the new chapter!**

**Sorry for the delay, I was busy with class.**

**Please Enjoy !**

* * *

Chapter 5 :

Attacking a castle full of powerful vampires was easier said than done.

While I was confident I would be able to deal a lot of damage to the castle and the vampires inside and escape unscathed, I needed to occupy them long enough for Kuroka to take Valerie away from the castle. I also needed to make sure that the Vampires didn't give chase.

This is why I decided to move an hour before Dawn. After all if I hold them for a single hour until the sun rises, the Vampires would be too busy trying not to be burned by the Sun. However depite my advantages over them with my Longinus and Holy Light, I would not be able to hold them all if the King Of Tepes, Vlad IV is backed by is stongest subjects and an entire horde of vampires. This is why I would need to be stealthy and kills as many vampires I could before the King is noticed even though I really want to butcher every single one of them with my Holy Spear but I needed to keep my calm and not let my anger surfaces.

As I said easier said than done.

Moving through the woods with Kuroka while hiding our presence with the Sage Arts, the logical part of my mind was screaming at me that it was a bad idea but I dismissed its warning.

I wanted to fight. I wanted to kill. I wanted blood for all the suffering the inhabitants of the Fullmoon went through.

I know that it will not help them in the long run apart from giving them a small respite but I still wanted to try and give them hope.

"Darling, are you sure you still want to do this alone nya ?" asked Kuroka, still worried that I'm going to face them alone."I can help you."

"No, you're too recognisable Kuroka." I replied behind my blank white mask."It's better that no one connect you to my alter ego. Don't worry I'll be fine and besides I do not plan to fight them all at the same time." she still looked worried but relented hearing my confident tone.

We finally arrived to our destination, the Tepes Castle. Kuroka separated from me to look for Valerie wishing me good luck. It wouldn't be a problem for her to infiltrate the castle by hiding her presence with the Sage Arts but I needed to use another approach. I couldn't take the risks of someone learning that my Alter ego can use Senjutsu and connect me to my public identity.

The only cards that I can use for this are my True Longinus and Light manipulation. It means no Senjutsu, no Touki and no magics. It is going to be annoying to restrain myself in such a way but it is more than enough for these filth.

I destroyed a small part of the wall with my light and made my way inside the castle, I know that it will alert the guards to my presence but it is exactly what I wanted. I needed as many enemies as possible focused on me instead of Kuroka. The Second son of the Tepes King, Marius Tepes, must know about Sephiroth Graal and may have put people to guard Valerie or even be with her right now. I needed to draw him out and kill him so I could stop him before he makes common cause with Rivezim and Qlipppoth even though I believe that it will be a fruitless endeavour as he was known as a coward in the novels and will most likely stay away from the commotion.

I made my way through the hallways of the castle. The castle was a very dreary place, fitting for the place of residence of vampires lords and made me thinks of the castle from the Castlevania games though I shouldn't be suprised, this whole universe works on cliché.

I woke up from my musings as I could finally hear footsteps coming in my direction. Well, look at that, my first preys of the night.

"The Lord told us that the commotion was coming from here." said a voice coming down the hallways. "Tch, it's problably nothing again."

"Why is it always us who had to deal with such menials tasks ? Shouldn't that be the works of servants ?"said the second voice.

"Hmpfh, you know that these children with filthy blood are incompetent and sloppy in their works." said the first voice condescendingly."This is a job for us, true vampires of the Tepes Faction."

"Right, anyway when do you thinks the hunting party is coming. They are taking much longer than they did last month."

"They are probably having some fun with the food, lucky bastard."

I scowled beneath my mask at what they were saying and felt my anger resurface. Does vampires have some king of innate ability to piss me off ?

'I'm going to enjoy this.' I thought in anticipation.

Before they could make another step I launched a single sword of light in their direction, killing one the vampirs instantly. The other guard was so shocked that he stopped moving entirely, I could have easily killed him during these few seconds but I didn't. I needed this one to alert the vampires of this castle and come toward my position.

The other vampires looked at my direction and was most likely recognised my use of Holy Light if his face petrified in fear and panic was any indication. He fumbled with something in hands, most likely a magic communication device to alert the others. I let him cry in panic about my presence and and moved instantly in front of him and beheaded him with my holy spear, leaving only ashes behind, before he could tell them about my use of Holy Light. I then destroyed the communicationdevice which was demanding a report of the situation, crushing it under my foot and waited.

Waited for the preys to finally come.

And they didn't take long as dozens of vampires were making their way to my position and were already preparing for combat but I didn't even let them talk or makes the first move. I wanted to make as much damages as possible to their faction so I needed to be extremely ruthless in my dealings with them.

"**Heaven-splitting Flash**" Dozens of beams of light pierced the weak bodies of low-class vampires, killing them effortlessly. Several of them tried to fight back by sending their shadows at me but it was useless as my aura of light was literally burning the darkness. Some tried to use magic to hurt me but I fended off all of their spells while more and more beams made of light decimated them.

And through all this, I didn't move from my position. I was watching impassevely as the bodies of bloodsuckers littered the ground of the castle. I could feel that more vampires were coming but they died all the same to my light. I didn't need to use my True Longinus for small fries and was waiting patiently for the High-class Vampires to come and it seems that someone heard my wish. I could see a handful of vampires literally transforming into a form of reptiles or insects and making their way to me with anger and rage in their eyes.

'So this is the shapeshifting ability of vampires.' I mused to myself, observing the High-class vampires destroying everything in their ways to reach, not caring that they were ripping apart several low-class vampires with their actions.

They must have observed the massacre from a distance and figured that I must be weak in close-quarters combat sot they thrown away any use of their shadows and magic and and trasformed into monsters thinking that I will not be durable and strong enough to fend off their assault.

How foolish of them.

With them finally in striking distance to me, with their jaws, claws and stingers ready to tear me apart, I finally released my Longinus powers, creating a toxic aura of light in the air.

Vampires have a overwhelming disadvantage against me. They are even more weak to light than the devils or any holy equipments with them being undead and here I possess the strongest holy weapon in the world. A single cut from my spear would kill them instantly, no matter how durable their body is. It is very improbable that I would ever lose against a single vampire.

They are outmatched, in every senses of the world.

And it seems that the vampires in front of me finally realised who they were fighting against if the fear in their eyes and the burning skin caused by the Holy Light released by the Spear of Destiny is any indication.

"**White Slash**." I slashed at the vampires with my spear, releasing a wave made of Holy Light and cutting the High-class Vampires in two.

I looked back at the incoming forces who all stopped moving and instead opted to stare at me in shock and horror, some even started running away in fear. The vampires that I killed must have been important Lords of Tepes.

However I didn't let them gawk at me and I took advantage of this moment to finish them off.

I point my spear at their direction, some already taking steps back at my unsettling blank mask looking at them coldly, a sphere of light formed at the tip of the spear. The sphere was growing and growing while the vampires realised that the situation was hopeless and decided to foolishly decide to turn their back on me in order to run away.

"**Holy Ray**." a barrage of white rays came out of the sphere and bombarded all the vampires with impunity. The attack was merciless and teared apart anyone who tried to resist or run.

Looking at my handywork, I could see that nothing but ashes remained of the vampires forces but it was nowhere near enough. I needed more, more kills, more destruction. Killing a few dozens of vampires will not makes them weaker in anyway. I needed to up my game.

I could see another forces of vampires coming at me but this time I didn't let them come at me patiently.

I moved at insane speed while enhencing my body with magic and enhencing my speed and agility with _Time Alter _and cut down any vampires that I came across. A single cut was more than enough to utterly disintegrate them.

More and more of them were transforming into insects and other forms of monsters but it was useless. I crushed them all the same.

I left nothing more than ashes and death in my wake and continued advancing, destroying anything in my way. Be it walls of the castle, statues or paintings of inestimable value. I wreaked havoc everywhere I went and killed more and more of the small fries.

In fact the Holy Aura I was releasing, both from my body and spear, was getting more oppressive for the vampires. So much that they couldn't even get near me without being burned themselves.

I continued moving and felt no more people coming at me until suddenly I felt my danger sense flaring alarmingly.

I immediatly moved to the side at the incoming and powerful attacks. A wave of darkness passed by me armlessly and destroyed a good chunk of the castle behind me. I then moved through all the waves of powers coming at me from all sides.

"**Aegis of light**." I intoned slowly. A crystal-like wall made of light protected me from all of the attacks. I continued forward as I could feel that my attackers were at least Ultimate-class in terms of powers and I needed space to fight them seriously. I destroyed a giant gates which was situated at the end of the hallways and entered the room.

The room or should I say hall was clearly a thrones room if the literal throne made of contless bones was any proof.

I looked behind me to see my five opponents making their way toward me through the rubbles. All of them powerful and all of them very furious if I were to go by their looks.

"How dare you ?"started the leader slowly with cold anger in his voice."HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY CASTLE, YOU MONGREL !"hurled the King Of Tepes, Vlad IV.

I didn't answer and simply looked at all them impassively with my expressionless mask. I recognised all of my opponents.

Vlad IV Tepes, Leader of the Tepes Faction,

His son Alucard Tepes, Crown Prince of the Tepes,

Galliard Vladi, Lord of the Vladi and father of Gasper Vladi,

Ferid Bathory, The Gourmet,

And finally Crowley Eusford,The Fallen Crusader,

I have heard of all of them in my studies. Apart from Alucard Tepes who is only at the level of a powerful High-Class vampire, they are all veteran of the Vampire Civil War between the Tepes and The Carmilla and are at least Ultimate-Class in terms of power.

Fighting all of them at the same would be dangerous even for a Maou and yet here am I, ready to fight against the strongest vampires of the world. Most would consider me a fool with a deathwish to do this for what is basically a reckless decision but I did not care.

I may not be able to kill them today but I will at the very least make them suffer.

"Do not ignore my father, bastard !"spoke the Heir of the King and approched me."You're going to pay for your impudence !" He began to run in my direction, his form transforming into a gigantic preying mantis and tried to cut me down.

Key word being tried.

Before he could even touch me, I ignited the blade of my spear with burning holy light and thrusted it at my opponent, impaling him in the chest. The Crown Prince looked down at the mortal wound in incomprehension and a second later he burned to nothing more than ashes.

I looked back at the shocked face of my enemies.

"Makes me pay he said ? No, the only ones who are going to pay are you filthy scums." I whispered with barely a hiss.

"Who are you ?Who do you think you are to invade my castle and kill my son ?"hissed the King of Vampires with barely resytrained fury if his trembling shoulders were any indication. "Do you really think you will escape my punishment ?"

My shoulders too were trembling but not out of fury but laughter. I laughed so hard that the faces of all the vampires before me turned into something hideous and angry-looking but I didn't care. I leisurely made my way to the throne of bones while laughing and sat down on it. My laughter stopped abrutely.

"Who am I you ask ?" I said slowly with indifference, slammed down my spear on the ground and released it's full aura of Holy Light and I could finally see a small amount of fear in theirs eyes as they recognised my weapon and thus who I truly am.

" _I am Abel, Wielder of the the True Longinus and the only one dealing punishment here…is me_."

No words where needed anymore. They all launched at me with fury and power and I was more than glad to reciprocate with as much if not greater fury.

'I wonder how Kuroka is doing.'I thought idly while taking a battle stance.

* * *

Kuroka was excited. Normal girls wouldn't be excited about infiltrating a literal den of monsters and the possibility that she could die at any moment if her darling failed but she had always been an action-kind of girl and besides she has the utmost faith in her mate. He is the disciple of the Great Sage and possess the Ultimate Longinus after all.

She still couldn't believe her luck which had been nothing but shitty for all her life. To think the man she chose would be so perfect. That he has such grand ambition and wants to protect people like her. She really believed that she could fall in love with Cao Cao. In fact she is already really close to it.

This is why she went with his suicidal plan to attack the Tepes Castle and save this young girl. Because for once in her life, she is doing something right. Beyond the fact of finding the perfect mate, she truly believed in Cao Cao's dreams and she will do everything in her power to help him achieve it.

Maybe, just maybe when Shirone will see all the good she is going to do with her darling and the safe haven that he is going to create, her sister will forgive her and come back.

She clasped her cheeks hard with both of her hands and woke up from her thoughts. She has a an innocent girl to rescue after all.

Looking at the dreary tower where the girl is held and behind her where she could hear the screams of dozens of scums dying by the hands of her darling, she thought back to what he told her to say to the dhampyr who possess one of the stongest Longinus in the world. She did not know if it would really convince her or even how he know about it but she trusted Cao Cao.

So she easily entered the tower which was already deserted as all the vampires guarding this place were running to their deaths by the hands of her darling. She then finally came across the room where she could feel the aura of an halfblood.

She went inside and finally had a good look at the young girl her darling wanted to save at all cost and she was as broken and miserable as he said.

Cao Cao told her that Valerie Tepes is broken both in heart and soul because of the side effects of the Graal but she never thought it would be this bad. The girl was looking at her with no expression on her face. She is not even panicking of seeing a complete stranger in her room.

'Shirone…' my mind whispered.

That girl was just like Shirone. Broken by her own family and couldn't express her emotions anymore.

Kuroka made a decision at this moment. That she would help this innocent girl, who reminded so much of her sister, at all cost. As a form of redemption to what she did to her own sister.

She approched the dhampir slowly. "Hey there." she said with a warm smile trying to put her at ease.

"Hey." she answered with a monotone voice and dead eyes.

"I'm here to take you away to a better place nya." she said to test the waters.

"Better… place ?"

"Yes, my darling and I are going to save and take care of you nya and one day we will help you reunite with your little brother, Gasper." she promised to Valerie.

"Gasper ?" life finally came to her eyes and for the first time she was looking back lucidly and with hope in her eyes. "You promise ?"

"I promise nya." she nodded resolutely and offered her hand. Valerie took it.

"I can't move…had training…earlier…with my brother." she said with a broken speech.

"This is not a problem. I will hold you." I rassured the damphir and took her in my arms.

We both escaped easily and Valerie seemed to have fallen asleep. Most likely having used Sephiroth Graal too much earlier if what she said about her brother was true. I then sent a signal informing her darling that it was done.

'It's up to you now, darling nya.'

X

The room where we were all fighting turned into a veritable battlefield. Being nothing more than chaos and destruction. Swords and waves of light were launched from all sides toward the vampires, destroying everything in the passage while my opponents were throwing around their darkness and shadows that even my Light couldn't burn completely.

However it didn't mean that my attacks had no effect on them. Crowley lost an hand in the fight and wouldn't be able to regenerate it and all the others had burn marks on them but I also took some damages. I had a large gash on my chest but I was able to easily cauterize the wound with my light and my magic reserves are being slowly drained and my body is getting more and more tired as I have been fighting evasively the whole time.

"Give up and face your death, boy." said the Lord Vladi trying to convince me to end this meaningless fight while swinging his sword at me. "Your actions are meaningless. You have no chance of winning against the four of us."

I felt the other three coming at me from behind but I launched omnidirectional beams of light in every directions making them back off hurriedly.

"Winning ? I already won. I killed hundreds of vampires and dozens of nobles." I said with amusement clear in my voice."I ruined your reputation. A mere human crushed the mighty vampires the so-called superior race as if they were nothing more than annoying bugs. After today the Tepes Faction will be a laughing stock." I laughed and I could see that my words had an effect as they are looking even more furious than they already were. It seems that they really want to rip me limb for limb.

"I'm going to enjoy draining your cattle body of all life." said the Gourmet, Ferid Bathory with an very angry smile.

"Why ?" said Crowley the Crusader with an smile that was as angry as Ferid and I hummed questionaly. "Why are you attacking us ? We, the Tepes, are an isolationist faction and we do not leave our territory of Romania so I do not think that we ever met or hurt you personally. The only answer I could find was that you chose us as a target to make your grand debut as the possesor of the Ultimate Sacred Gear but the Devil Faction would be a much better target for you, wielder of the True Longinus. So why us ?"

"Why huh ? Its simple really." I mused."For one you made me angry, angrier than anything ever made me in the past and secondly, I merely wanted you all to understand one thing." a vicious smile spread beneath my mask. "That in this world where the strong crushes the weak, people like you are one thing and one thing only." I pointed my spear in their direction."and that is…_preys for me_."

It seems that they didn't expect me to answer with this. That the only reason I attacked was simply to prove a point and because I was angry. Better that they believe this than the true reason being Valerie. Though Crowley was also right about the grand debut. I needed to make an impression on the supernaturel world and build my reputation as 'Abel' as a fearless and ruthless individual and what better than attacking the Tepes Castle simply because I could. They will also not suspect that I am also doing this for the Fullmoon Village.

Looking at their enraged expression, I couldn't help but smirk beneath my mask. I think that looking down on and mocking arrogant bastards is going to become my favorite hobby.

"Y-you've…done all of this, killing my son, my subjects by the hundred, ruining my reputation…for such a worthless reason." said the King of Tepes, trembling with rage.

"Not so funny when you are the hunted isn't it Vlad ?" I mocked him with a cold voice and I suddenly received the signal from Kuroka informing me that she secured Valerie. "But I had enough fun for tonight, it's time to leave."

"What ?! You really think tha-"** "True Longinus : Increase." **My Holy spear transformed into a multitude of Kunai-like spear, all of them hanging in the air and that I can control with my mind.

The _Increase Form _is something that I copied from King of the Seven Deadly Sins. I always wondered if it was possible to change the shape of the spear entirely or if it had others form than the base one. After all simply extending the lenght of the spear couldn't possibly be the only thing that I could do with the Ultimate Longinus beside light manipulation. It would be way too weak for the strongest of all sacred gears and turns out I was right, I can do much more than extanding the lenght of the spear.

I can multiply the number of blades though the holy light would be subsequently much weaker than in its true form but it was an exellent technique if I didn't want my opponents to come near me and wanted them to be hunted down like dogs.

'Here is a taste of your own medicine.' I thought viciously as I rained a barrage of blade at the vampires. It didn't matter if they dodge, I would make the blades follow them like homing missiles. This technique allowed me an opportunity to escape while they were occupied but first thing first.

"**Asteroid**." Several giant cubes formed in the sky and a literal rain of beams came down on the castle, destroying entire part of the castle and killing a lot of vampires as a collateral damage. It would not destroy the entire castle as the important part of the castle is protected magically but it will still do a lot of damage and humiliate them further.

I looked back at the leaders of the Tepes Faction still running around trying to avoid my blades and I took this opportunity to escape.

Knowing that I made them suffer for everything they did.

X

How did this happen ?

Marius Tepes, second son of the King of Tepes and fifth in line for the throne still don't understand what happened. They, the Tepes Faction, one of the strongest factions in the world was attacked by one single human and…lost. How could this be possible ? and yet right in front of his eyes was the truth.

A good part of their castle, nothing more than rubbles in the grounds, hundreds killed including many nobles and his older brother dead at hand of this 'Abel'. How could a single human do so much damage to their faction in a single night even if he is the Wielder of the True Longinus. Even if he have such a powerful Sacred Gears, a human is still a human. They should be nothing more than food for us, vampires and one lone human humiliated us like this. Granted, no true assets apart from his worthless older brother was killed and rebuilding the castle would take a matter of days and the majority of those killed were the ones with impure blood but still this is the proof of what I've always known.

That the Tepes Faction became weak under the leadership of his father.

This could also be an opportunity, with his brother dead. Father may chose him as his heir and if he doesn't he simply has to kill him. The other nobles will fall in line as they all follow the one giving them power. He needs to use Valerie and the Graal to make his kingdom stronger sooner than planned but he needs to do it fast before the other factions like these wrench from the Carmilla takes advantage of this.

But as he was making his way to check on his impure sister, one of his men came to him and told him something which shocked and enraged him to the core.

The wielder of Sephiroth Graal, the tool that would have allowed him to become unstoppable, his sister Valerie Tepes disappeared.

How did she disappear ? Was she killed ? No, her part of the castle was untouched. There is only one explication for her disappearance.

Someone took her away during the chaos. And now he knows why this 'Abel' attacked them. It was nothing more than a distraction to kidnap her. It was either the wielder of the True Longinus or an accomplice and it means that they know about the Graals. I punched in anger one the remaining walls and roared to the sky.

'Shit shit shit shit ! What I am I gonna do ? They ruined everything.' He thought in panic.

No, he just needed to find her. His father would want to find her too if he knows about the Graal but I can't tell him about her true powers. It will ruin everything but he would want to find 'Abel' and finding him means finding Valerie.

'I will make that foolish human regret ever standing in my way.' He thought with a sneer on his face.

I immediately went to my father to talk to him about that worthless halfbreed disappearance and more importantly about our next course of action.

"Father." I interrupted him while he was talking with Ferid Bathory who is one of the few people of the castle who knows about the Graals and who would follow him if he made him stronger wth it.

"Marius." said Father with a curt nod and I told him about Valerie's disapearance and he reacted just as he expected. He could see through the corner of his eyes, Ferid's eyes widen in shock.

"That foolish child must have conjured images of ghosts with her mind, wandered during the chaos and got herself killed." As expected he didn't care. "It doesn't matter. What matter is finding that mongrel who dared to humiliate me. He dared to take the name of the first human my ancestor ever killed. What arrogance." said father with gritted teeth and rage clear in his voice.

"My King, we can't send an hunting party after the True Longinus possessor. The sun is close to rising." said Ferid dissuading my father.

'His pride over his dead son, such a typical behavior for a vampire.'

"We should put a bounty on him, with a price that no one would be able to resist. The inferior races would find this 'Abel' for us and we will just have to hunt him down ourselves.' Marius proposed with a confident smile.

"You do that but only I am allowed to kill him. True Longinus or not, I swear to one day put his head on the pyke of my throne." he said with a cold voice despite the pain he felt because of the Holy light.

"Very well, father." he turned around and left.

It would be much easier to find Valerie if several factions were to hunt down the human but there is still the possibility of them giving up. He shivered at the opressive aura of light that he felt even from afar during the attack. It was like being in the presence of an angel. That human is strong even if that weapon is wasted on a member of such a weak race.

He had no choice. He needed to ask help from _them._

Going underground to avoid the sun, he connected the communication device and a face appeared on the screen. It was the face of a young looking man with silver-braided hair.

"Marius, to what do I owe this pleasure ?" said the silver haired man with a smooth and arrogant voice.

Marius gritted his teeth and was also shaking in fear despite trying not to. "W-we h-have a problem, Lord Euclid."

The man at the other end of the screen seemed displeased by what I said.

"Tell me everything."

X

I was sitting in a lotus position on a cliff with the Valerie Tepes sleeping on my magic cloud next to me. I looked at the Fullmoon Village where the inhabitants were all awake and looking at the crumbling castle in shock and hoped that my actions helped them this time.

I then felt a presence behing and could feel arms envelopping my neck and breats pressing against my back.

"It's done ?" I asked.

"Yes nya, I erased the memories of every villagers of our existence. The vampire would find nothing about us through them though I do not think that the bloodsuckers will even bother asking. They are too arrogant for that nya." She replied.

"Better safe than sorry." she hummed behind me and looked at me with a smile.

"You did it, darling. You saved her and made them pay for every people they've hurt." Kuroka whispered in my ear.

"And I made many, many enemies and may have put Valerie and you even more in danger." I said with sadness.

"I do not care nya. I will be with you every step of the way and I'm sure Valerie will be too when she will learn more about you." she rassured me with a warm smile.

"Thank you, Kuroka." I put my hand on hers and she tightened her grip on me.

" So 'Abel' huh ?" she teased and I blushed at the stupid name I took for my Alter Ego. This is such a lame name. Why didn't I chose something like Mastema, Hasmed, Amorgen, Bran Fendiggaid or something cooler but I had to chose the name of the first murdered boy in existence. Well whats done is done. The truth is I chose this name because Cain was the very first vampire and the ancestor of the Tepes and Carmilla. I thought that it would be poetic if someone named 'Abel' beat the shit out of the descendants of his killer.

"That's smart actually." I was startled by her compliment. " After today every factions would be looking for Abel, wielder of the True Longinus. No one would ever think that 'Abel' is in fact the descendant of a Chinese warlord who is not even christian."

It was the other reason why I chose this alias as it would thrown off anyone looking for me especially the Church as I am going to join them shortly. They wouldn't be able to make the link between Abel, wielder of the Spear of Destiny and Cao Cao, the disciple of Sun Wukong.

"I know. Anyway it is time to leave, the sun is going to rise soon and we need to get away from this cursed place." she nodded at me and went to the cloud.

I looked back at the village with clenched fists and remarked that there was someone looking right at me. Narrowing my eyes, I could see that it was Akatrina who was looking at me.

She was smiling softly and whispered something that felt oddly like a thank you. I could feel a single tear rolling down my face that I wiped using my sleeves. I nodded at her resolutely and turned around.

'I swear that one day I will save you, all of you.'

* * *

**Author's notes :**

**Damn, this chapter was very difficult to write. I hope you enjoyed it.**

**In this chapter we have Cao Cao showing more of his powers and beating the shit out of vampires. For those who remarked I made Valerie younger than she is in canon. It's more convenient and I'm sure some of you recognised the OC vampires. They are characters from Owari no Seraph, a very good manga. Look them up.**

**Next chapter : Cao Cao finally makes it to the Vatican. Seriously, he tooks his time.**

**Until Next time !**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone, I'm back. Really sorry for the delay. I had my final exams of the year for uni this week so I was too busy studying to update.**

**So without further ado, I give you the new chapter of an Hero's Journey.**

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

I never thought that I would one day see two beautiful young woman devouring the food on their plates like starving animals but here we are.

We were currently eating in a restaurant in the city of Rome in Italy. We were closer than ever to the Vatican but there was a huge problem that I needed to solve if I wanted to join the Church. That problem was sitting right in front of me and she was a devouring a beef steak with an emotionless expression which was really creepy by the way. That problem, of course, being Valerie Tepes. My other problem, the sexy black cat Kuroka was praising Valerie for her table mannerisms or rather non existent mannerisms while having a piece of tuna fish stuck in her mouth.

"Very good Valerie-chan nya. This is how you eat a beef steak if you want to savour it."

"Like…that ?" the dhampir asked while chewing her food.

"Yes, just like that nya."

I sighed at their antics. I could see all the customers staring at us. I didn't know if it was for their table manners or because they were two beautiful woman with revealing clothes but I ignored it. The way they act in public wasn't really suprising. Both of them have absolutely no common sense with Valerie having lived most of her life in a dreary tower and Kuroka having been on the run. They must have never frequented such a place in their life.

However what I found strange was how fast these two became such good friends in such a short amount of time. Kuroka was oddly attached and protective of Valerie though I wagered that it was because Valerie was similar to Shirone both in personality and history. Valerie was mostly sleeping during our way here but when she woke up she immediately latched onto Kuroka and has been following her around though I've seen her staring at me the whole time.

I've also remarked that the damage done to her soul because of the missing Graal was more extensive than I first thought. I already knew that her emotions were muted and that she was incapable to show an expression on her face but it seems that the way she talks was also affected. She would sometimes speak in a broken speech manner and she would sometimes forgot what she was saying and look lost in thought in the few times we talked. I wanted to talk to her extensively about her Sacred Gear, about Rivezim but also about herself but I couldn't go farther than introducing myself when she lost herself to her thought . This is why I took her here as i thought that maybe she would be able to talk after a good meal and being in a peaceful place.

Which makes me go back to my dilemma. I needed to find a way to sneak a dhampir in the Vatican and makes her join the Church while letting no one knows that she is a dhampir and that she has the Graal.

I already knows how to hide her Sacred Gear. Mephisto Pheles gave me a talisman that hides the presence of my longinus tied to my soul. It's a masterpiece that he created himself and according to him no one can detect the Sacred Gears unless they are a Great Seraph intimely familiar with the Sacred Gear system or if they are a god. He made it years ago for both Lavinia and Georg and it explains why no one know that they have Longinus. Lavinia told me about it in her letters and I asked her to send me two of them so I could hide my True Longinus from the Church. One for me and the other in case I lost the first. I plan to give the second talisman to Valerie to hide the existence of her Sacred Gear but it leaves the matter of hiding her vampire heritage and more importantly how I could heal her mind and soul from the side-effects of the Graal.

I have a theory that could maybe allow Valerie to hide her race but I was uncertain if it would work. And for healing her I needed a certain person and it was the reason we were in Rome instead of going straight to the Vatican. But first I needed to know if my theory could work and Valerie was the only one who can tell me.

I coughed loudly and both of them stopped eating and looked at me, one with a cheshire smile plastered on her face and the other looking at me with a blank face.

"Well Valerie, like I already told you earlier, I am Cao Cao, the one who asked Kuroka to save you." I said with a gentle smile. " And I-"

"Why ?" she interrupted me with a glimmer of cold intellingence in her eyes and I looked at her in surprise. "Why did you save me ? Is it for my Longinus ?"

Well, she is more perpective than I thought she was though I shouldn't be suprised It was hinted in canon that she was not only a broken doll and that she was perfectly aware of her situation. There was two ways I could go about to answer her question. I could either tell her that it was indeed only for her longinus or maybe the actual truth.

"While you having the Graal played a part in my decision, it was just a little part and it was mostly a spur of the moment decision. You know about the Fullmoon Village, right ?" She nodded and I could see an hint of disgust cross her face for a millisecond. "When I learned the truth about that place and that there was nothing I could do to help them, I was understandably angry, Very angry. I needed a way to lash out and what perfect target than the very perpretor of this abomination. So I went and wreaked havoc in the castle and I asked Kuroka to take you away during the chaos."

"Darling is just being humble nya. The attack was just a distraction to save you. It was his plan all along." said Kuroka with a proud expression and Valerie looked at me in askance.

I sighed and answered. " Okay , the true reason I saved you is that, with what I know about your situation, I couldn't leave you in that place to suffer. I was frustrated that I couldn't save the inhabithants of the Fullmoon Village so I decided to save the person I know I would be capable to help. Maybe…maybe it is selfish that I helped you so that I could feel good about myself and because I was trying to escape my guilt but it is what it is." I finished with a little shame in my voice and I felt someone touching my hand.

It was Valerie who was still looking at me with no expression on her face but I could see some emotions in her eyes. Kuroka was also looking at me sadly and mouthing that it was okay.

"it's alright. You helped me, that's what matters." Valerie said and despite her monotone voice, I had the impression that she is trying to comfort me.

I coughed suddenly embarrased by the situation. "Anyway, you need to know that Kuroka and I are going to the Vatican so that I could join the Church. Kuroka can hide herself by turning into a cat and using senjutsu but it leaves you vulnerable. I'm sure that you know that Marius and his backers will hunt you down, right ?" She nodded and answered.

"Yes, my brother needs me for his plans but there is also these two silver-haired devils who took one of my cup. They are dangerous and powerful." As I thought she already know about Rivezim Lucifer and Euclid Lucifuge.

"Yes, these people are powerful and they want you at all cost for their plans and The Graals cannot fall into the wrong hands. This is why I have a proposition for you," She looked at me curiously. "In order to keep you safe I need you to become an exorcist alongside me. It will be the perfect smokescreen to hide you. The vampires and devils wouldn't dare to come near the Vatican and they will never think that you, a dhampir, became an exorcist. I also know of a way to hide your Sacred Gear and your race. Of course that plan will not work if you do not play along and you are perfectly in your right to refuse. I'll find another place to hide you and you are not obligated to stay with us. So my question is, will you join us Valerie Tepes ?" I asked her seriously. I know that we were the ones who helped her but she still had no obligation to follow us and I wanted her to know that she can leave to strike out on her own if she wanted. I did not want to pressure her in anyway and I wanted my companions to join me willingly.

She thought for a bit and and answered. " I will follow your lead…Master." _Wait what._

"Why are you calling me Master ?" I cried out out with a embarassed look. I could see the other customers looking at me strangely because of my shout. And I can see you snickering behind your hand, Kuroka, I know it's your fault somehow.

She looked at me as if I was the one lacking any kind of common sense. "You asked me to join and serve you…so that's makes you my Master."

"I didn-" Kuroka bursted out laughing and I looked at her in frustration.

"But I have one condition." I blinked and Kuroka stopped laughing.

"What's the condition ?"

"My brother, Gasper, Kuroka said that you will help me reunite with him." she said and for the first time, there was some emotions in her voice.

I nodded. "I did say that but it will have to wait."

"Why ?"

"From what I know, your brother was reincarnated by a devil but not any devil. He was turned into a devil by the little sister of the Crimson Satan."

"Rias Gremory." Kuroka interrupted with some anger in her voice. I was not really surprised by the venom in her voice. Rias stole her role of big sister from her after all and Kuroka hates all pureblood devils because of what happened to her. She was also looking at Valerie with empathy though it might be because they were somewhat in the same situation. So much that it was kind of eery in fact. Both hunted for something beyond their control and both have siblings in the peerage of Rias Gremory. If you add the fact that Valerie had a similar personnality to Shirone and it was no wonder that Kuroka was so attached and protective of Valerie.

"Yeah, her. Your brother must be in the underworld protected by the Lucifer's peerage. I cannot take you there now but there is nothing to worry about. Your brother is safe and you will just have to wait a few years to finally see him." I said.

Valerie nodded knowing that it was futile to try to go to the underworld to take Gasper away from one the most protected place in the supernatural world, that place being the Gremory territory.

"I understand, Master."

"Don't worry Valerie-chan, you will see your little Gasper one day. I promise you." Kuroka promised, comforting Valerie and hugging her close.

"Now that this is stettled, there is another matter that we need to discuss but first take this," I gave her the talisman of Mephisto to hide the presence of her Sacred Gear. "No one will be able to detect the Sephiroth Graal with this talisman." Now we needed to talk about the way we are going to hide her dhampir traits so she could become an exorcist with me. I have a theory that might work but I needed to use the Graal to do it.

Sephiroth Graal also known as _the Holy Graal of the Secluded World_ has the ability to make contact with the principle of life. It can grant immortality, bring the dead back to life as long as the soul is intact, erase weaknesses and also give powerful regenaration factor to anyone but in canon Rivezim used it in another way. He was able to to transform low-class Vampire into Evil Dragons albeit weak ones. Changing the race of someone should be impossible especially when you take into account the fact that there is no similarities between a vampire and a dragon but I digged deeper in my mind and I realised that it wasn't that difficult. After all the evil piece can turn any species into a devil and the Brave Saint card can turn a human into an angel. So, for a device like the Graal, it should have been fairly easy especially when you take into consideration that Rivezim had Evil Dragons close by to create a link with the vampires. And then we have the woman in front of me who is not only the original wielder of the Graal, has a more powerful subspecies but also has human blood flowing in her veins so changing her race to that of a human even if it is temporaly should be possible.

I explained all this to Valerie and she merely looked at me blankly. I thought it was a bust but then she closed her eyes and I felt something change in her body.

"Done." She replied simply while showing her teeth. I could see that she had no canines anymore and her eyes turned from pink-red to bright pink.

"What !? J-Just like that !" I said, shocked that it was so simple. Even Kuroka had her jaw dropped but she quickly collected herself and looked deep in thought. I had a guess to what she was thinking. She must be wondering if it was possible for Valerie to turn her from a reincarted devil to a pure nekoshou. Though she wasn't the only one thinking about the potential of the Graal. While I do not plan to change my race anytime soon. I'm happy as a human after all but I was thinking of giving myself and my companions immortatility and a regeneration factor. It could also be possible to give myself an inherent magic system like the devils and angels and not needing calculations to create magic spells anymore.

So much possiblities.

"It wasn't that difficult. I already had human blood in me to create a link. In fact removing weaknesses is more draining." she said with the same monotone voice and startled me from my thoughts. "But this just a temporary change. I do not want to fully turn into a human. Despite my upbringing I am proud to be a dhampir as it is my only link to Gasper."

I nodded at what she said. "I understand but does that mean that the longer you stay in your human form the more the Graal drains your energy ? That could be dangerous."

"No, not really. To maintain that form I merely need to drink human blood regulary in my vampire form." she said while looking at me intently or rather my neck. I gulped and I could see Kuroka laughing again.

"Hahahaha ! V-Valerie-chan nya, I, as the main lover, allows you to drink the blood of darling." she teased and resumed laughing and I blushed in embarrassment at Kuroka's words. _Damnit Woman_.

I sighed, it wasn't like I had a choice anyway. "E-enough, Kuroka." I cried out. "Now that this is settled. We just need to heal he-" I stopped abruptly because I could see that Valerie was not paying attention anymore. She looked lost in thought and had a little saliva coming out of her mouth. Kuroka stopped laughing too and looked at Valerie in anguish.

"We need to find that girl you told me about, darling." She said sadly.

"I know."

The reason we came all this way to Rome instead of going straight to the Vatican was not only beacuse I needed to find a way to make her come with me to the Church without anyone finding out that she is a dhampir but also because there was someone in that city that may be capable to heal Valerie. That person being of course Asia Argento. I asked a favor from my friend Georg and Grauzeberer to find her location and he needed only minutes to find her place of residence. Turns out that the Holy Maiden is fairly famous in the supernatural world though it wasn't that suprising. Holy maidens are more often than not, propaganda tools used by the Church. They parade them around to attract more followers.

From what I heard she was living in a small church in the outskirts of Rome, the Church of St-Martha if I am not mistaken. I know that there was nothing saying that Asia is capable to heal the mind of Valerie. After all Twilight Healing might the second strongest healing sacred gears after Sephiroth Graal but in canon it was only capable to heal physical wounds Velerie's wound are in the mind and soul. A side effect of overusing the Graal and losing one of them. However it was still worth a shot.

"Let's go, we have a holy maiden to find."

* * *

We immediately went to the outskirts of Rome in the direction of the Church Asia Argento resides. Valerie still hasn't come out of her trance and I was worried that changing her race had a greater effect on her mind and soul than I thought.

Fortunately, no setbacks impeded us on our way to the Church. I seemed to attact troubles like a magnet lately and I was afraid that something outrageous would appear along the way

We came into the view of a small clearing. We could see a small church with a field of flowers surrounding the building. More suprising was the small blonde-haired girl who seemed to be between 11 and 12 years old tending to the flowers. There was also a nun who seemed to look over her and who immediately went on guard seeing us.

The liitle girl, who could only be Asia Argento, was humming a little tune and looked up, finally realising our presence. She was looking at us curiously and with eyes full of innocence not in the least on guard around us.

We must have been an odd sight. A young man wearing stange chinese clothings with the head of black cat coming out of his gakuran and a young woman resting on his back with a blank look on her face.

"Hello." I said with a warm smile trying to put her at ease.

"H-Hello." The young girl answered shyly and I could see the other nun coming near us in a fast pace.

"Asia, is it ?" she nodded shuffling on her feet. "Well Asia, my companion needs your help. She is very sick, you see and only you can help her." I said slowly and Asia looked at Valerie.

"The hours for healing is over. You must come back tomorrow if you want the Holy Maiden to cure your companion." The other nun said curtly and looking at me suspiciously.

I looked at the nun's harsh gaze. Her reaction was not very suprising, even I admit that we looked somewhat fishy but I couldn't let her interfer in this. So I ignored her and looked at Asia.

She was still looking at Valerie. She must have never seen such a thing. Even I found Valerie's trance-like state deconcerting.

"What happened to your friend ?" Asia said with a small voice.

"She has a mental sickness and I believe that only you can help her."

"The Holy Maiden cannot cure sickness of the mind. Please leave." The nun said harshly but I continued to ignore her which seemed to anger her further. I had no reason to antagonize her but she rubbed me the wrong way since I've seen her. The way she was referring to Asia as if she was not even a person was rather telling too.

"I-I will help her," The young girl answered with determination and the nun looked at her in shock. "I've never tried to cure sickness of the mind. I'll never know it it is possible if I do not try."

"But Holy Maide-" Having enough of her screeching, I subtly tapped the head of Kuroka in her cat form to tell her to deal with it. Kuroka's eyes glowed while looking at her and she used a little bit of her mind altering magic to convince her to leave.

"It's alright, sister. I can do it."

"Very well Holy Maiden. I will wait for you inside." The nun said with a monotone voice and left us alone.

I always found the use of mind magic distateful but I needed to be alone with Asia. No one should know about Valerie so I told Kuroka to make all bothersome people leave us alone before we came here.

"Anyway I remembered that we didn't introduce ourselves. I am Cao Cao, the woman on my back is Valerie and this is Kuroka, my cat." I introduce each one of my companion while Kuroka made a 'mew' sound and waved at Asia with her paw making the young girl coo in delight at the cute little cat.

Then she looked at me with a blush, embarrassed that she made such a noise in front of me. I simply smiled at her in response.

"N-Nice to meet you, I am Asia Argento."

"It's a pleasure, little Asia." I said with a smile.

We then went to a room where she usually sees her patient. I put Valerie on one of the bed available and a green glow envelopped Asia's ring.

"H-How do you think I should do this ?" She said seeming uncertain. I couldn't blame her, it was a new territory both for her for me.

"You know what your Sacred Gear is right ?" She looked at me, suprised at my knowledge of the supernaturel.

"Yes it is a gift given to me by God. The Twilight Healing capable of healing any wound."

"What do you think of when you are healing your patient and use your Sacred Gear ?" I asked.

Asia seemed to hesitate for a moment but answered with conviction nonetheless.

"I-I just want them to be healthy. To go back to how they were before they were hurt."

I nodded at what she said. "Then do you think that she is healthy despite her having no injuries." I said pointing at Valerie blank face.

"N-No, of course not. She is in pain even if she has no wounds on her body." She answered immediately.

"Yes, exactly. I do not know if you are capable of healing all mental sickness but Valerie's sickness is special. You could say that she has a scar on both her mind and soul. If you think of her wound as a scar that you cannot see then you might be able seal the wound." She nodded at what I said as if she realised something.

It was a theory of mine. Twiligh Healing is capable of healing any physical wounds but it incapable of regrowing limbs, healing exhaustion, sickness and cure mental disabilities. However all of these wounds were natural. Valeries's state is not natural in anyway and is not a true mental sickness but a side-effects of the missing Graal so I thought if Asia was seeing Valerie's problem in such a way it would be possible to heal her. Of course I do not believe that it will cure her completely but it will give me more time until I find a permanent solution.

"I-I think that I know what to do." She said resolutely ans her hands started to glow green.

She touched Valerie forehead and her hands glowed even brighter and finally I could see light coming back to Valerie's eyes.

"M-Master…where are we ?" she said slurringly and Kuroka immediately jumped on her in her cat form and nuzzled on Valerie's cheeks.

"Somewhere safe, do not worry. It's good to have you back Valerie." She nodded with a ghost of a smile while stroking Kuroka's fur. "You should thank this young girl. Her name is Asia Argento and she is the the one who healed you."

"Thank you, Asia." Valerie said with the same monotone voice I was becoming used to.

"You do not have to thank me, Miss Valerie. I was just doing my duty to God." Asia said with a blush but looked despondent in the next moment. " And I do not believe that I healed you completely." I looked at her in askance.

"I-I-I do not know how to explain but it's like I put stitches or bandages on the wound and after a certain time the wound would reopen itself." She explained sadly while looking down on her feet.

"Yes, I can still feel the scar on my soul and it is not fully closed." Valerie comfirmed what Asia was saying.

As I thought it couln't be that easy but I kinda expected it.

"It's okay Asia. You did the best you could." I said warmly while patting her in the head. She looked up at smile with small tears on her eyes. "We'll just have to come back when it happens again. Maybe prolonged exposition to your Sacred Gear is the solution."

"I-I-I-" she stuttered while touching my hand on top of her head.

It wasn't that great of a setback though I will have to change my plan a little. I'll have to to stay here for a week and come to the church everyday to see if prolonged exposition is really the solution and if I need more than a week, I'll just have to come by here with Valerie to see Asia from time to time after I join the Church. It's not a big deal.

"Anyway, I would like to invite you for ice cream as a thank you. What do you say Asia ?" I offered her with a smile.

"Huh ?" She looked up at me in confusion. "B-But I'm not allowed to leave the church."

"Don't worry about it. We're just gonna see the sight for a few hours and eat ice cream. I'll leave a word to your matron if you wish." I offered her my hand. "So you in ?"

I always liked Asia Argento. She was honest and one of the only person I've seen who was truly good at heart and I was really grateful to what she did for Valerie. I know that the church did not let her out much, so I thought that it would be a good idea to show her the outside world as a thank you. And seeing her bright and innocent smile, I know I made the right choice.

She immediately latched on my hand and answered cheerfully.

"Yes !"

* * *

The week flew by quickly. I went to see Asia everyday for Valerie treatment and she never went in her trance state ever since. She do not speak in broken speech anymore but she is still not capable of showing her emotions which seemed to sadden Asia as the two of them grew closer. Valerie seemed to find Asia endearing, not like I can blame I was pretty fond of the girl too, and Asia wanted to cure Valerie of her affliction but I wagered that it could only be solved by giving her back the missing piece of her Sacred Gear. Even Kuroka grew attached as she would always play with Asia in her cat form.

After the treatment, we would all take the young girl to see the sights of Rome. Turns out that she never visited the city even if she lived here her whole life. It seemed the church wished to keep her safe and never let her got out once in her life. The only place she truly went to outside of her church was the Vatican and she only went there to be paraded around, to show the miracles of god.

Asia was truly enjoying herself. She was like a child in a candy store or more accurately a child who is looking at the wonder of the world for the first time and I was happy that she was coming out of her shell. She was too sheltered in my opinion and needed to go out and have fun like any child should. Of course the pastor and the nuns tried to forbid her from seeing me. The pastor, especially, seemed to be a pretty displeasing person. He was even worse than the nun and was looking at Asia like she was nothing more than a tool for God. He was always preaching that the Holy Maiden should always tend to her patients, that it was her duty to God. He tried to corner me a few times but I would always have Kuroka use her magic to keep him and the nuns away so that Asia can enjoy herself in peace. I was starting to think that that fanatic priest was the one who excommunicated Asia in canon.

Anyway, it was the last day before I went to the Vatican and we were all making our way to Asia's church while eating ice cream. I was looking at Asia fondly while she was enjoying her treat and holding my hand.

I know that involving myself with Asia may change canon irrevocably. After all in a few years she is going to excommunicated and she would later became a devil. However the fact that I became friend with this brave little girl changed everything. I was going to join the Church and I was close to Asia now so I would never let her fall victim to the Church and Diodora Astaroth's machinations. It was as simple as that. The moment that slimy snake show himself around her, I will make sure to beat him to death and make him pay everything he has done. And if Asia is still excommunicated after this then I will simply welcome her in my group rather than let her go to Grigori to be used by Raynare or to let her become a devil's slave.

You may say that it will derail canon completely if I do not let her join the Gremory peerage. And trust me I know how important Asia's role was in the peearage. But I do not give a flying fuck about canon or the Gremory. You really think that I will let Asia go through everything she went through before she became a devil simply because it is convenient for plot progression and to keep close to canon. That's ridiculous. Canon was dead the moment I was born. After all I was to be a major antagonist in the future and yet here I am walking a completetely different path. It is the same for Valerie, Kuroka and Asia now. It's unrealistic to think that canon will still continue its course. My meta-knowledge is still useful but I shouldn't rely on it to predict the events of canon.

"Ne, Mr. Cao Cao," The voice of Asia startled me from my thoughts. I looked down to see her looking at me sadly. "You're really going to leave tomorrow with Miss Valerie and Kuro ?" She said looking down on her feet.

"Yeah, but it's not like we will not see each other anymore. I told you that I was going to become an exorcist and that I would come to see you from time to time for Valerie treatment." I replied trying to cheer her up.

We talked a lot Asia and I. I told her many things aboutmyself. Like the fact that I was the disciple of Sun Wukong and that I lived on his mountain for years. Asia seemed to find it fascinating that I was trained by the legendary monkey Youkai and would always have a good laugh when I told her about all the pranks Bikou and I pulled. I even let her climb on my magic cloud and she had the fun of her life let me tell you. I then told her about my wish of becoming an exorcist to protect people like her and Valerie and she looked at me with stars in her eyes, claiming that I was like these heroes from the stories which was really embarrassing by the way. I didn't tell her about my ambition to create a faction because she was too young to comprehend such things but at the end of my stories she was looking at me with admiration and proclaimed that I was her new hero. So I could understand her reaction to my leaving her. She was just a young girl whose only wish is to have a family and friends. Moreover for her I was like a new story full of adventures. Someone who broke her monotone life and showed her a whole new world.

"I-I will still miss you, all of you." The healer said and she looked up trying to gather her courage to ask Valerie and I something. "C-Can you become my friend ?"

I blinked and stared at her then I smiled at her warmly.

"Asia, aren't we already friends ?"

"R-Really !" she cried out in surprise.

"Of course we are and Valerie and Kuroka too are your friend, right Valerie, Kuro ?" I said looking at Valerie still eating her ice cream and at Kuroka still hiding in my gakuran. Valerie stared in my direction and looked at me as if I asked a stupid question and Kuroka mewed as if it was obvious.

"Of course Asia is my friend, Master." The dhampir said with the same detached voice.

"Mew." Kuroka said with all the assurance of a cat.

Asia was visibly vibrating in happiness but I wasn't finished.

"In fact, you are like the little sister I always wished to have."

Asia looked up at me with tears in her eyes and she launched herself at me and hugged me tightly.

"T-Thank you, b-big brother, Valerie, Kuro." she said crying her eyes out in happines.

I simply smiled down at her and stroked and blond hair gently.

We then made our way to the church in a good mood with Asia clutching my hand and smiling happily.

We came up to the small clearing and I felt someting was wrong. Valerie and Kuroka too seemed to have noticed if the sharpening of their eyes was any indication.

I felt an enormous presense with my Sage arts who was waiting for us. In fact I've never seen such a powerful life force before. I clutched Asia hand tightly and walked slowly to the clearing preparing myself to summon Houtengeki and using my magic.

Looking at the person waiting for us, I froze because I felt that I knew that man. I could see that it was a muscular old man wearing priest clothes.

"Father Strada !" Asia cried out happily and ran toward him. I froze a second time at the name used by Asia and I felt chills go down my spine.

"Asia dear, how are you ?" The strongest man in the world said gently while hugging her but he didn't leave his gaze from my form for a second.

While Asia babbling happily, I finally realised who was in front of me.

Vasco Strada, The Violence of Heaven, The Vatican's Evill Killer himself.

The man who reached the Apex of Humanity.

And if his cold gaze directed toward me was any indication, he didn't seem to be happy.

Shit.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I know, I know, I said that he was joining the Church in this chapter but I just. Kept. Writing. It's better that I stop giving hints of the next chapter as it may end up becoming something completely different.**

**Not many things happened in this chapter apart from the meeting with Asia but it was more of a breather chapter. And for those who ask, because I know you're gonna ask. Asia will not be in the Harem, she will be more of a little sister figure. Every hero need a little sister after all.**

**Anyway I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I know there was no action in this chapter but we can't have fights in every chapter but do not worry because in the next chapter we have Cao Cao fighting against the Violence of Heaven himself. I really do not want to be in his place.**

**I also wanted to thank every people who gives me ideas in the comments section. thanks to you I have a pretty clear idea of a Balance Breaker and new abilities for Cao Cao. Please continue.**

**Until Next Time! And do not forget to leave reviews.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, It's Karma! Two chapters in just as many days lucky you!**

**I wanted to apologize for my two weeks break so I planned in advance to release two chapter in a week.**

**Hope you like it! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7 :

_Vasco's pov_

Vasco looked at the two suspicious people in front of him while keeping Asia close to him in case he'll have to fight them. These two were dangerous, he could feel it in his old bones.

The young man was clearly a skilled martial artist if the loose stance he took was any indication. It seems to be non-threatening at first glance but for an experienced fighter it was anything but. His tense shoulders, his moving fingers as if he was holding a weapon in his hand as well as the position of his feets as if he was preparing to move quickly at any second. He could also feel magic gathering in the air around him, so he must be also skilled in magic. A martial artist and a magician, a dangerous combination. As for the woman next to the young man, she was dangerous in her own way. She seemed weak at first but her sharp eyes and cold demeanor were telling him otherwise.

Vasco never thought that he would encounter such people near Asia. It was one of his job as a Cardinal to check on all the holy maidens of the Church, to see if they were safe or adequately protected but Asia has never been in any kind of danger since she has awakened her Sacred Gear. Of course all the factions keep an eye on her like they do all holy maidens but Asia, despite her possessing a rare Sacred Gear, has never been threatened before mainly because her Sacred Gear has no combat application. It was the complete opposite of Jeanne who he had to protect from assassination and kidnapping attempts since she was a young child.

So imagine his surprise when the pastor keeping an eye on her informed him of two suspicious person visiting Asia for an entire week so he made his way here as he was already close to Rome because he was looking for clues about a certain person.

The appearance of the wielder of the True Longinus was causing an uproar in the Vatican. All the higher-ups and even the Seraphs ordered every exorcist to find him at all cost so that they could convince him to join the Church, after his show at the territory of the Tepes. Attacking an entire faction, killing nearly a thousand vampire and destroying their castle was certainely impressive so he could understand the urgency of Heaven to find and to draw such a strong young man to their side.

However no one heard a thing about this 'Abel' after his spectacular appearance, he had to admire the cleverness of the name. Naming himself after the brother Cain murdered was certainly a way to mock the vampire further. After all Cain was the Sire of all vampires and the ancestor of the Tepes and Carmilla. He was cursed by God with the Mark of Cain and God damned him with vampirism so that he could never die as a punishment for the murder of his brother. To think that that thousands of years later, another Abel would avenge the death of his namesake by attacking Cain's descendants. It was certainly ironic but this 'Abel' was causing him major headaches with the higher-ups yelling at him to find him. So he took this opportunity to be away from them and go see Asia, a girl he was always fond of and check on these suspicious people she has befriended.

His suspicions, of course grew stronger when he detected traces of mind altering magic on the mind of the pastor and several of the nuns. The magic was harmless but it was clear that they were planning something for Asia as they didn't want the other from the church to interfer.

So he made a decision, he will wait for them, take Asia to safety and confont them of their intentions then capture them for interrogation if they prove to be ennemies.

"Asia dear, why don't you go back inside to wait for me ? I wish to talk with your new friends." He asked gently to the young girl who was babbling happily.

"H-Huh ?" she said in confusion and looked back uncertainely at the young man.

"Go back inside Asia, we'll be back soon." The young man said putting a reassuring face in front of the girl.

"Y-you promise ?" She asked hesitantly .

"I promise."

"Okay big brother." Vasco blinked at the familiar term used for the young man and narrowed his eyes further.

He was surprised that the young man would so readily let Asia leave as she would have been the perfect hostage to confront him who is considered to be a monster among man but what was more surprising was how attached Asia became to the young man. His theory that she might have been brainwashed like the others at the church might be true after all.

After Asia left, Vasco was finally left alone with the two of them and asked the question that he has been eager to ask.

"Who are you ?" He asked bluntly.

The young man looked back stoically stroking the fur of the stange cat hiding in his gakuran and the woman next to him looked disinterested in the conversation entirely.

"My name is Cao Cao and my companion here is named Valerie Cain," The young man, Cao Cao, introduced himself and his companion. Vasco raised an eyebrow at his name. "It is an honour to meet a man such as you, your Eminence Strada. You have been an inspiration to me since I was a young child."

Like he thought, the young man already know who he was but what sets the alarm bells ringing in his mind was the name he introduced himself with. Cao Cao, the Hero of Chaos, a chinese warlord of the period of the Three Kingdoms. This is not a coincidence that the young man in front of him bear such a name.

"A peculiar name so tell me what are your intentions in regard to Asia." Vasco asked again.

"We have no ill intentions regarding Asia. I simply wished for her to heal Valerie here." Cao Cao answered calmly.

"You do not need an entire week to heal someone." He countered.

"Valerie had a mental sickness. A prolonged exposition to Twilight Healing was needed."

"Twiligh healing cannot cure sickness of the mind." He said thinking that he had him.

Cao Cao smirked. "Then you clearly do not know the full capabilities of this Sacred Gear."

Having enough of this charade he decided to end this. "I know that you used mind altering magic on the inhabitants of the church."

"They were annoying, always crowing like parrots that Asia needed to heal everyone, that it was her duty to God. Putting such burden on the shoulder of such a small child is disgusting so I simply made them ignore us. I simply wanted Asia to have fun." Cao Cao growled in irritation.

Vasco, of course, know of the treatment of Asia in this church and has warned them several time to give her more freedom but it seems that they didn't listen. He empathised, really he did, he never liked the way the higher up treated these young girls as if they were not human. However it was still not a reason to do what he did and it was clearly not the only reason. He was hiding something and if he had to guess it had something with the girl next to him. He has seen enough, it was clear that he needed to take them to the Headquarters to interrogate them more thoroughly.

"Be as it may. You still used mind altering on unsuspecting humans. I'll have to take you both to the the Vatican for interrogation. If you refuse I will have to use force."

Cao Cao stilled and prepared himself for combat. "I'm afraid I can't do that." He said as he summoned a gigantic halberd and took a fighting stance

"Force it is." He said simply and took a battle stance.

* * *

Me and my shitty luck.

I thought that I could avoid a fight with THE Vasco Strada if I answered his questions with half-truths but it seems that it didn't work. Can't really blame him even I wouldn't have believed myself if I was in his place and having Kuroka using mind altering magic on these people was not my finest moment. However I cannot let him interrogate us in the Vatican. There is a huge risk that they may learn about Sephiroth Graal if I let him interrogate us there. I do not have a choice but to fight and try convince him of my good intentions in regard to Asia. If it doens't work I'll have to give up the idea of becoming an exorcist and go for plan B, that is to say join Grigori instead but I have to do everything so that it doesn't come to that.

"Valerie, Kuroka, do not interfer." I whispered to my companions. Kuroka understood as it would only create more problems if she showed herself, Valerie tried to to protest but she clapped her mouth a moment later and nodded.

It also goes without saying that I cannot use my Longinus or my Light magic which gives a huge advantage to Vasco but I do not believe that he has Durandal so I may be able to fight him if I use only my Senjustsu, Touki and Magic.

I pointed Houtengeki, the Sky Piercer in his direction and moved using_ Soru, _one of the Rokushiki I mastered using Touki. Vasco only had a second to widen his eyes as I teleported in front of him. I then slashed at him with my spear which he narrowly dodged. My halberd slammed into the ground and created a shockwave sending my opponent away.

I then sent several _Rankyaku_, wave of pure Touki in his direction to keep him away. It seemed that Vasco decided to take me seriously as he simply punched every waves, dispelling them easily. He then moved at blinding speed and cocked his fist back to punch me in the stomach. I parried with my halberd feeling the raw power behind his fist and creating another shockwave. I exchanged several blows with him at incredible speed then leaned on my spear and leaped in the air with the use of acrobatics and tried to pierce him from the air.

The Violence of Heaven shocked me by not avoiding my Touki-coated spear and grabbed it with his fingers. My jaw dropped as I tried unsuccesfully to take it away from his fingers.

_What a monster, _I thought in shock at the enourmous strength of the man in front of me.

"Such skill for one so young. To think that you are capable of using Touki and your spearmanship is not for show either." Vasco assessed looking at me in comtemplation. "Tell me young man, who trained you ?"

Cao Cao smirked despite the situation. " Sun Wukong, The Great Sage equaling the Heavens." Vasco's eyes widened for a second and seemed to comtemplate something.

"I see, it explains your prowess if you were trained by such a man."

I nodded. "I do not wish to fight you, your Eminence. I care about Asia, I would never hurt her. This is all a misunderstanding." I said trying to convince him to stop this meaningless fight.

"So you wouldn't mind coming to the Vatican so that I could interrogate you." Vasco tried once again to make me come with him.

"No, I have secrets that I am not comfortable to reveal and the same goes for my companion." I sighed in exasperation. "Listen let's make a deal. I planned to go to the Vatican to become an exorcist after I had Asia heal Valerie of her sickness. If you do not ask further questions about Valerie and myself, I'll reveal everything to you in due time."

Vasco seemed surprised by my wish to become an exorcist and he seemed to really consider the deal but he shook his head a second later. "I'm sorry but I have to do my duty as a cardinal, you are still suspicious and you are not in a position of power to make such a deal."

I could try again by telling him about Sephiroth Graal but I didn't trust him enough to tell him such a thing. For all I know he might immediately spill everything to the higher-ups which would be a disaster for all parties involved.

I looked at him while gritting my teeth in anger. "Very well, it means that I just have to win to make you listen then ?"

"You can certainely try, young man." Vasco said with a smile without an hint of arrogance in it.

I looked at Houtengeki still held between the fingers of the Cardinal and smirked. "I'll take back my spear then. **Shinra Tensei."**

An oppresssive force threw the Cardianl away. It didn't deal much damage but he released my weapon, taken aback by the attack. I then used telekinesis to lift the spear from the ground and enveloped it with natural energy, blue flames appearing around Houtengeki. With a wave of my hand, the spear launched itself in the direction Vasco was thrown away.

Vasco feeling that he shouldn't take the attack head on, moved to the side with incredible speed but the spear redirected toward him like an homing missile.

As expected of the Violence of Heaven, he felt immediately that he shouldn't take the attack head on. Houtengeki when coated with Senjutsu can damage an individual's spirit instead of the body. Even if he had withstood my attack, it would have pierced his spirit directly. Of course an attack like this is dangerous for my body. I cannot wield my spear with my hands when nature energy envelop the halberd as it is too uncontrolable and can damage my own spirit if I wear to use it with my bare hand.

I aptly named this technique, **the Flying Spear of the Sage.**

My spear chased after the Cardinal while he ran all around the field without pause. Having enough of his running around, I accelerated the speed of the spear with my time magic. Vasco narrowed his eyes at the sonic boom created by the speed of the weapon coming at him.

_Got you_, I thought in triumph but I immediately narrowed my eyes as I could feel holy energy gathering in the right hand of the Evil Killer.

He cocked his fist while I could feel the air rippling around him and he punched. "**Sacred Fist**."

A torrent of light blinded my vision. A second later, I opened my eyes and was shocked to see that his punch destroyed a part of the clearing, seeing that there was nothing left of the path his attack took, not even the grass. My Houtengeki was buried in the ground behind me. His attack cancelled my control over the spear and throwed it away.

Thank Gabriel that he didn't break Houtengeki but this is still bad. At this rate I'll have no choice but to use True Longinus. Even if we both didn't sustain any injuries and we are still holding back, it is clear that it is Vasco Strada who has the upperhand.

If my spearmanship doesn't work then I just need to use long-range and destructive technique. It is the only way I can have the upperhand.

Bringing my hands together, I intoned. "**Wood Release : Thousands Hands**."

Like the name suggest, thousand of hands made of woods came out the ground and immediately launched themselves at Vasco. Vasco, of course, punched every single hands coming at him but he winced a second later. The reason being that these hands were special. They were made of nature energy, it didn't matter that they were destroyed but every time Vasco came in contact with it he will feel a shock to his spirit weakening his body and besides they were too many of them for him to avoid them all and there was still me to deal with.

I took Houtengeki with my hand, enhenced my body with Touki and launched myself at him with blinding speed. Vasco looked at me immediately and parried several of my attacks but he couldn't deal with me and the several hundred hands made of woods coming from all around him. While we exchanged blows, I controlled the hands to grab him. Of course it wasn't enough to keep him in place but it wasn't what I had in mind.

"**Life drain." **I drained the life force of Vasco without any hesitation but I know that it would only damage him enough to make him unable to move. After all I felt the enourmous amount of life force he posses, it was as if I was standing in front of an immovable mountain but I digress. All I did until now with my wood magic was to give me an opening.

Taking advantage of his paralysed stare I moved. "**Sky Piercing Art : Blunt Strike**."

A red aura formed around my halberd. Using the blunt side of his halberd, I hit Vasco with all my strength finally dealing the first real blow of the battle. A shockwave was created, destroying the ground around us and the Violence of Heaven coughed up blood and was thrown away unable to parry the attack.

I grinned at my succes, satisfied that my plan worked. I could see Vasco getting up slowly. His priest clothes were ruined and had bruising wound on the stomach. He also had blood coming out of his mouth but he still seemed extremely calm despite the blow he took. Before he could launch a counterattack I quickly brought my hands together and used a technique to restrain him.

"**Wood Release : Great Spear Tree." **Thick roots came out of the ground and envelopped Vasco to crush him underneath it but it wasn't enough so I supercharged the roots with so much natural energy that it was going to explode in a few seconds. Even for someone of Vasco Strada caliber, he wouldn't be able to avoid the grievous damage that this attack will deal to him.

_I win_, I thought as I grinned, satisfied of my victory. However before I could cry in victory Vasco appeared right in front of me with his fist cocked and light coming out of his fist.

How could this be impossible ? One moment he was trapped and at my mercy and the next he seemingly teleported in front of me with no grievous injuries while I could see my tree in shambles behind him.

"**Sacred Fist."** And then I felt pain like nothing I ever felt felt before. I was thrown away like a ragdoll. I couldn't even get up as I felt pain all over my body and was coughing up blood.

It was unbelievable. A single punch from this monster was enough to bring me down despite my Touki enhenced body.

Defeat. It was the only thing on my mind at this moment. It was the first time I was defeated in such a overwhelming way. True I sometimes lost spars against Bikou. I even lost against Shishou when we sparred but I know that he never took these fights seriously. If he did he would have ended the fight in seconds but I digress.

Even against Ultimate-Class Vampires, my chances to be completely defeated before I escaped were still pretty low. However it was the first time my defeat was so overwhelming, so one-sided. This man, Vasco Strada, has truly reached the Apex of Humanity. He is the Ultimate Human. Even if I was holding back by not using my longinus as the fight could have been more even, I knew that if Vasco had Durandal or any Holy Sword my defeat would have been just as overwhelming. After all his true strength lay in his swordmanship and not in his hand-to-hand combat.

I could hear steps coming in my direction and I looked at Kuroka and Valerie still standing at the side. Kuroka was shaking in anger in her cat form and was preparing herself to attack Vasco from behind. As for Valerie, she still had an emotionless expression but I could see her shadow shaking in agitation. I shook my head in the negative to signal them not to intervene.

"You've fought well, young man. You are extrmely talented for one so young and should be proud of yourself. It's the first time in twenty years that anyone made me bleed." Vasco came near me with a smile on his face.

I couldn't help but laugh at what he said and I could see him looking at me questionningly. "N-No I was just thinking that I had a long way to go reach the level of the Strongest Man in the world. It is the bare minimum after all to achieve my dream."

"Your dream ?" He asked.

"Yes one day I will become the strongest so that I could protect everything. Protect the innocent and oppressed. Protect people like Asia and Valerie." I said with conviction despite the pain I felt and I swear that I could see a smile on the face of the Cardinal.

"Hoh, interesting." I looked back at the face of the man who defeated me so handily and smirked. I prepared to summon my True Longinus to get the hell away from here. It seemed that Plan A was a bust and he needed to go for plan B.

_Sorry Asia, It seems that we might not be able to see each other again after all_, I thought in sadness and prepared to escape.

However before I could I heard a cry on my left.

"Big brother !" The voice of a young girl in panic was heard.

I looked at the side to see Asia Argento running at me with tears in her eyes. She came near me and immediately activated her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing to heal me from my wounds.

"What happened ? Father Strada, why did you hurt Big brother ? He did nothing wrong !" Asia asked the Cardinal with anger in her voice. An emotion completely foreign for someone like Asia Argento.

The Vasco Strada, the most badass man I have ever seen seemed to panic for a moment and tried to explain. "I-"

He was interrupted by the cute angry puppy known as Asia. "Is it because of the people of the Church ? Did they say bad things about Big Brother ?! Don't listen to them, they were most likely lying like they always do."

As Asia continued to scold The Violence of Heaven in her own cute manner, I felt Valerie come sit next to me and felt Kuroka nuzzling my cheeks to reassure herself that I was alright.

"Master, Are you alright ?" she asked with no emotion in her voice as I stroked Kuroka fur but I could see concern in her eyes.

"Mew ?" Kuroka seemed to ask the same thing.

"I'm alright, it's just a bruise."I lied but I could feel my body getting better with the use of Twiling Healing.

Vasco coughed in his palm and I looked back at him as Asia stopped lecturing him.

"Asia dear, I'm sorry I hurt your…your big brother but it was part of the test." He said trying to reassure Asia.

_What, what test_ ? I thought dumbfounded by what he said.

"A test ?" Asia asked with a tilt of the head.

He nodded vigorously. "Yes, Cao Cao's test to become an exorcist."

"Oh." Asia opened her mouth."And did…did he pass ?"

"Of course he passed, with flying colours in fact." He said with a smile.

"Yes !" Asia cheered and hugged me tightly. "Congratulations Big brother !"

"Indeed, congratulations young man and welcome to the Order of Exorcist."

I looked back and forth between the two of them in shock.

"What." I said again but out loud this time. I could see Kuroka on her back laughing while looking at my face.

Asia then stopped cheering and looked deep in thought and then she nodded resolutely.

"Father Strada ?"

"Yes Asia ?" He looked at her curiously.

"I've been thinking a lot these past few days and I decided on something." She said slowly.

"What is it ?" He asked and I looked at Asia in confusion.

"I want…I want to become an exorcist." She said with a little hesitance but she seemed resolute.

Vasco and my eyes widened in surprise.

"Are you…are you sure ?" Vasco asked carefully and I nodded vigorously at what he said.

"Asia, Are you doing this to be with me ?" I asked in turn worried that she is making such a life changing decision to follow me.

"Y-Yes I am sure and it is true that I wish to be near big brother however it is not the only reason." Asia nodded rapidly. "I learned a lot about the outside world from big brother, about the good and the bad. He told how he wished to protect the innocent so that they could live in peace without being threatened by the supernatural world and this…this resonated with me." She looked at the palm of her hands. "All my life, with these hands, all I did was heal again and again but I wish to do more. I do not want to simply heal these people who were hurt but I also wish to save them with my own two hand. I want…I want to become a hero like big brother and for the first time of my life I have a dream. It is not something I am duty bound but something I want for myself. So please your Eminence, Big brother take me with you." She finished while bowing at her waist.

I was frozen in shock and it seemed to be the same for Vasco Strada. We blinked owlishly and Vasco started to laugh hysterically.

"Hhahahaha, ah to be young again." He said and looked at Asia warmly. "Very well, Asia Argento, I accept your candicacy to become an exorcist."

Asia smiled brighly and hugged Vasco and then me.

"Go pack your things, you little rascal. We'll be leaving soon." He chuckled.

"Wait."Valerie interrupted and Vasco looked at her questioningly.

"Yes, Valerie Cain is it ?" He asked.

Valerie nodded. "I wish to become an exorcist too." She asked.

"Oh and why is that."

She looked at me. "My master is a magnet for troubles so I need to become strong to protect him." She said in a monotone and I sweatdropped at what she said even though it was pretty much true.

Vasco ignored entirely the way she called me and chuckled. "That's a good reason as any. Truly I am blessed on this day. I recruited a powerful young man and two candidates with enormous potential."

Asia cheered. "I'm happy that we are going to become exorcist together miss Valerie." Valerie nodded and Asia took her hand with hers while Kuroka jumped on Asia's arms." Help me pack my bags miss Valerie." She asked brightly.

"Okay" And then the three of them left toward the church.

I stared at their retreating back and wondered what the hell just happened. Asia Argento, the healer of the series, becoming an exorcist. Is this some kind of parallel universe ? Wait it is already a parallel universe with my presence. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. This was not important for the moment. I'll talk to Asia later. What was important was the man chuckling in front of me.

"Vasco Strada or should I call you lying old man instead," I called out with a frown and he looked at me. "What the hell was that earlier ? Test, what test ? You fully intended to capture me."

"I did not lie," He smiled pleasantly. "It was truly a test. Of course it became a test only after you introduced yourself as the disciple of Sun Wukong."

"What do you mean ?" I asked in confusion.

"A few weeks ago I received a letter. Imagine my surprise when I've seen that it was a letter from the Monkey King telling me that his disciple planned to come to the Church to become an exorcist. Of course I didn't know who you were at first and I fully planned to beat you to half death and bring you for interrogation." He explained and I sweatdropped at the brutality.

"And because I am his disciple, I became above suspicion ?" I asked, frowning at the show of favoritism.

"Of course not but I realised first that I might have misjudged you as I know that the Old monkey would never take a bad person as a disciple. So I tested your skills, your resolve and finally your ambition and you passed all of them with flying colors." He said while smiling.

"So…I am an exorcist just like that." I asked sceptically.

He raised an eyebrow. " I am a cardinal and the greatest exorcist of all time. If I want someone to become an exorcist then they will be a second later no matter who they are and besides making you get through the exorcist training would have been a waste. From what I've seen, you can be considered to be among the top ranked exorcists as you are now. It's not everyone who can fight evenly with me." He said confidently.

"Evenly, my ass." I grumbled still sore about my defeat.

Vasco gripped my shoulder." Hoh, don't be like that you've fought extremely well for someone so young. You have the potential to surpass me, I'm sure of it." He assured me with a smile and I looked away embarrassed at the compliment coming from someone I admire.

"In fact, I've decided to train you personally. The Monkey King trained you well but you still have rooms to grow in other fields." I looked back and paled at Vasco Strada who had the sweetest smile I have ever seen on the face of an old man. A smile that chilled me to the bones .

Fuck.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**Well this chapter was very action packed. Cao Cao against the strongest human in the world. I know that some of you will be dissatisfied with the result of the battle. But come on you can't expect Cao Cao to win against Vasco freaking Strada, The Violence of Heaven, The Apex of Humanity and the most badass character (in my opinion) of DxD. We are talking about the man who singlehandly overwhelmed Vali, Bikou, Fenrir and Gogmagogg in his prime form and who had no problem dealing with Issei in his Crimson Cardinal from and Saji in his Balance breaker when he was still an old man. The result of this fight was obvious, we had a 14-year-old Cao Cao against the Ultimate Human after all. True Cao Cao didn't fight all out as he didn't use his Longinus but Vasco didn't either and the result would have been the same especially if he had Durandal. Remember that we are talking about the kind old man that all devils, including the Maous, are terrified of. You may say that Cao Cao fought against Ultimate-Class Vampires just two chapters ago but they were very vulnerable to his holy spear and they are at the bottom of the Ultimate-class ranking. Vasco is Satan-class and the difference between Satan-class and Ultimate-class is like heaven and earth. **

**As for Asia becoming, I always wanted her to get out of her damsel in distress role and become a badass. Of course she will still be a healer but she'll know how to fight and will learn to use her Sacred Gear for combat.**

**Anyway, I hope you like the chapter and pleave leave tons of reviews.**

**Until next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everyone. I still can't believe that I have more than 800 followers for this story. I never thought that it would be so popular but it would have never been possible if it wasn't for all of you so thank you very much.**

**As a gift I wrote the longest chapter to date for this story.**

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

I looked, around, seeing for the first time the sight of the Vatican.

After Asia made her bags with Valerie, Vasco decided to use a teleportation device to go directly to the Vatican instead of going the normal way. And while the inhabitants of Asia's church tried to stop us from taking their holy maiden with us, we made it clear to them that they lost Asia's custody right when they started using her like a tool and that they had no rights to stop her from doing what she wants.

We all arrived at the Vatican without fanfare and we have been admiring our surroundings with Asia chatting excitedly about everything while making our way to the Exorcists headquarters.

Vasco said that I needed to register as a new member of the Order and that he needed to see a friend regarding Asia and Valerie exorcist training.

He said that he was only allowed to take one apprentice by orders of the higher-ups and that he will already be busy enough training me and that his friend will take care of Asia and Valerie.

I didn't really know if I should feel pleased and excited that I'm going to be trained by the Greatest Exorcist in History, Vasco Strada, or feel terrified out of my mind by said training.

I am not a stanger to hellish training as Sun Wukong, my shishou, is an hard task master but for some reason I felt like it would be much,much worse with Vasco.

I sighed and thought that I should be happy that I was lucky enough to be chosen by such a man. I smiled while looking at Asia babbling happily with Valerie about all the new things she is going to discover and stroked Kuroka's head to calm her down as she was looking around anxiously, no doubt feeling uncomfortable in this Holy place.

I then decided to ask Vaco about something that I've been worried about.

"Your Eminence, am I going to be partenered with someone during missions." I asked as I know that all exorcists moved in team of 2 or 3 and I didn't want to be hold back by my soon to be partenered.

Some would say that I was arrogant to think like this but it is what it is. I alrady know that I was much stronger than any exorcists bar Dulio, Griselda, Cristaldi and Vasco. It would be much easier if I did mission alone as I didn't want anyone to learn about my True Longinus by accident but I know that only top exorcists were allowed to move alone in the supernatural world.

All exorcist are precious ressources to the church and it would be suicide to send lone exorcist on missions.

Vasco looked as if he knew exactly what I was thinking and answered. "Don't worry Cao Cao, I know exactly who I am going to partner you with. Two of our top exorcists have been getting cocky lately and I believe your presence may humble if I make you team leader and to make them understand that they are not top dog among the people close to their age."

I raised an eyebrow and I nodded in understanding. Inwardly, I wondered who he was talking about but I had the feeling that I already know.

"Vasco."

I was startled from my thoughts as the voice of a woman was heard. I looked at the figure approaching us.

It was a beautiful blue-eyed woman wearing nun clothes . Se looked to in her late twenties or early thirties. She had a polite smile plastered on her and was looking at us curiously. She was also accompanied by a blue-haired girl around Asia's age with an emotionless look on her face. "Is that Xenovia ?" I thought, recognising the child.

"Griselda." Vasco greeted with a smile and my eyes widened.

So this is Griselda Quarta, the future Queen of Hearts and the Top female exorcist of the Church.

Not a single day has passed and I already met two legends of the Church.

"So why did you call and me and who are these cute little duckling following you around ?" Griselda asked with a raised eyebrow.

Asia hid herself behind me and looked at Griselda shyly, no doubt timid in front of such an imposing figure.

Griselda cooed in delight while looking at Asia. "Ooooh, you are so cute. What is your name, little one ?" She asked crooching herself to her level.

"A-Asia Argento, nice to meet you, S-Sister Griselda."

"Oooh you are the holy maiden of Rome, aren't you ? What are you here for ?"

"I-I am going to become an exorcist like big brother." She said with a stutter but with conviction nonetheless.

Griselda raised an eyebrow. "Really most holy maidens doesn't really take the path to become an exorcist." She said while looking at Vasco questioningly.

Vacsco coughed. "Mmmh yes, that is one of the reason I came to see you." Vasco looked at me and Valerie. "This is Cao Cao and Valerie Cain. They are both here to join the exorcist ranks alongside Asia."

"It is an honour, Sister Griselda." I said, bowing while Valerie imitated me. Griselda nodded at us with a smile.

"I have a favor to ask you. I would like you to train Asia and Valerie alongside your own ward. I believe that they both have potential and thay would only grow under your tutelage." Vasco asked.

"Are you sure ? I mean, I don't mind but I am not the kindest of teacher." Griselda said uncertainely.

It wasn't Vasco who answered but Asia. "P-Please Sister Griselda, Take me and miss Valerie as your students." Asia asked clasping both hands together and looking at Griselda with the ultimate weapon of cute, the puppy dog eyes.

Griselda's eyes sparkled and her smile stretched from ear to ear. "How can I say no to that ? Of course, I'm going to teach you sweetie." She said patting Asia's head.

"Yes !" Asia cheered.

"In fact I have a good idea on how to use you Sacred Gear for combat." She said and looked back at Valerie. "What about you ? I already know about Asia's Sacred Gear but I do not know what you are capable of and Vasco wouldn't have asked this favor for you if you were not special in anyway." She asked Valerie.

Valerie who looked disinterested in the conversation until now looked at Griselda nonplussed. She then lifted her fist and a golden light envelopped it. "I can do this." She said with a small smile that looked like a smirk.

We all looked with wide eyes, including me, as Valerie use Holy light in front of us. Granted it was just a small amount but I never thought that Valerie would be able to use Holy Light thought after reflection I shouldn't be surprised.

It is the Holy Grail after all. The ultimate and most holy tool in the world, second only to mine in terms of holyness. It would have been stranger if Valerie couldn't use Holy Light.

Vasco looked at Valerie, seemingly reassessing and most likely never thinking that she had a light attribute. Griselda looked at Valerie with an odd glint in her eyes. "Oh, Holy light though a small amount. Strange for someone who is not from the faith, who is not using holy equipments and hasn't been blessed by an angel. Though it is a small amount, it seems to be enough that she could be potentially a natural holy sword ."

"Indeed." Vasco agreed no doubt praising himself for bringing us here.

I was kind of surprised that they would think that Valerie is a natural holy sword wielder but again if Valerie in canon was capable of using Incinerate Anthem and control holy flames then she can most likely wield an Holy Sword with no problem.

I was kind of afraid that Valerie showing so much would gather suspicion but it seemed that they couldn't possibly deduce that she has the Holy Grail with so little.

Valerie looked back at me with no expressions but there seemed to be a small trace of smugness and pride as if she was saying "Praise me for my bluff Master."

I looked back at her with smile and patted her head. She still had no expressions on her face but seemed to preen under my ministrations. Kuroka looked at Valerie proudly no doubt thinking that it was her teaching that enabled her to bluff so easily.

"What about this young man ? You didn't ask me to train him." Griselda asked, looking at me curiously.

"Don't worry about him. I'm going to train him _personally_." Vasco smiled sweetly while loking at me and I shivered, feeling cold creep up in my spine.

Griselda and Xenovia's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, you never took an apprentice before apart from showing those who caught your interest a few things." Griselda said while seemingly reassessing me. I coughed under her attention.

"Cao Cao is special. I believe that he has the potential to surpass me like Dulio. He is also the disciple of The Great Sage and was able to go toe to toe with me." He said while gripping my shoulder.

'Toe to toe ? But you kicked my ass.' I thought while looking at my new teacher as if he was crazy.

Griselda and Xenovia both looked at me intently. They may not be related by blood they sure have the same reactions to surprising things.

"So this is him, the higher-ups have been really smug and eager since you informed them of his coming. Wasn't Heaven going to send one of their angel to welcome him as a sign of respect to the Great Sage." She mused out loud.

I may have looked calm on the outside but I was inwardly panicking. I really didn't want to meet an angel as they could potentially identify my Sacred Gear with a glance.

I trusted Mephisto's talisman to hide my Sacred Gear but I really didn't want to take the risk.

Vaco coughed. "I convinced them not to do it. It would have been too much for a single recruit."

'And thanks Gabriel for that.' I thought in relief.

"So, are you going to present him to the higher-ups ?" Griselda chuckled. "I wouldn't want to be in your place right now, young man." She said while I looked at her confusion.

"I'm not that much of a bastard, Griselda. I'll take him there only after Cao Cao aclimated himself to the Church." Vasco said with a wave of his hand.

"Fair enough. Anyway it is time for me to train my ward." Griselda said with a sweet smile while patting Xenovia's head. Xenovia shivered in terror. "Bring me the two girls at dawn tomorrow. I'll see you around Vasco, Cao Cao, Asia and Valerie." She said with a polite smile.

"Very well."

"Say your good bye to your fellow exorcists trainee, Xenovia." Griselda said to Xenovia while prepapring herself to leave.

"Goodbye." Xenovia said with a monotone voice and followed after her guardian.

Asia bid her goodbye enthusiastically while Valerie and I nodded.

Vasco then took us all to a small house after I registered where Asia, Valerie and I will live in. Ah yes and Kuroka too.

It belonged to Vasco though he doesn't use it often due to his numerous responsabilities and offered it to us so that we could have a place of residence in the Vatican.

I first installed Asia in the biggest room of the house and took her to bed as it was getting late.

"Good night, Big brother." Asia said with a smile while preparing herself to sleep.

"Goodnight Asia." I said warmly while stroking her hair gently.

I then made my way to my own room, opened the door and what greeted me was Kuroka's naked body. I stared openly as Kuroka was stretching her body while Valerie sat down on my bed without care of her surroundings.

"Nyaaaa, I can finally stetch my legs." Kuroka said and remarked my presence. "Oh Darling, you're here, we can finally have our sexy time together."

I got ahold of myself and pinched the brigde of my nose while sighing. "Kuroka, we never had any sexy time together. You just sneak in my bed every night and sleep naked next to me without my permission."

"That's just sexy time kid version. One day we'll have to do the adult version." She nodded to herself as if what she said made any kind of sense. She then approached me in all her naked glory, enveloped her arms around my neck and whispered sensually in my ear. "Or maybe you want the adult version right here right now nya."

I blushed despite the fact that I tried to show no reactions to her charms. "Valerie is here, Kuroka. Stop it."

"She can join, I don't mind." She said shamelessly while Valerie tilted her head no doubt confused by our conversation.

"Master." Valerie called out while I still had Kuroka glued to my body. I looked at her, waiting for what she wanted to say.

"I need your blood, I won't be able to keep it for long." She asked as I stared at her. I completely forget that Valerie needed human blood to maintain her transformation.

I sighed once again and took off my gakuran. Kuroka seemed to take great pleasure in my situation if her mischievous smile was any indication but I sweared not to show any reactions and give her the pleasure of seeing me embarrased by this.

"Let's finish this." I said tiredly as Valerie came closer. She looked at my neck for a long time while releasing her transformation and looking like a damphir once again.

She then bite me in the neck and started sucking of my blood. While I showed no outward reaction, inwardly I was really embarrassed and strangely turned on.

It went on for a few minutes as I held Valerie by the waist while Kuroka looked on, fascinated by the show. Valerie then got off me and looked at me with dazed eyes.

KNOCK KNOCK

We were sudenly interrupted by someone knocking on my door. Kuroka immediately returned in her cat form while Valerie went back to her human form.

I opened the door to see Asia standing here timidly.

"Asia, what are you doing here ?" I asked the young girl.

"I-I want to sleep with you, if you don't mind big brother." She asked shyly.

I smiled at her gently."Of course, I don't mind. Come in."

I made some room in the bed for her and she immediately lied on the bed.

I looked back to Valerie and said. "Valerie, you can go back to your room. It's getting late." But to my surprise she went to my bed and lied herself on the other side of the bed.

"Wha-" "Master need someone to watch over him during the night." Valerie said simply as if it explained everything.

"I don- you know what, I'm too tired for this" I said tiredly and went to lie down between Asia and Valerie

"Oh, it's just like these sleepovers I've heard about !" Asia said excitedly while Kuroka looked at me pouting from my torso no doubt disapointed that she didn't get the chance to sleep next to me.

I sighed and went to sleep while trying to not think about Valerie's breats pressing against me.

* * *

I was lying on the ground, all the bones in my body screaming in pain and looked up at the one responsible for this torture.

"Get up." Vasco said with a sweet smile despite the fact that he literally beat the shit out of me and a terrifying aura was seen around him.

It has been two weeks since I became an exorcist of the Church and Vasco have been taking care of me ever since. Well, take care is a little bit big, more like tortured me for two weeks non-stop through his idea of training.

I thought at first that Vasco's training would be just a little bit worse than the one I went through under Sun Wukong But I was wrong, so very wrong. It was easily ten times worse.

Vasco Strada, that I now called Teacher as a sign of respect and to differenciate him from my Shishou, told me that Sun Wukong trained me like a creature from the supernatural which I am not.

According to him, I took the easy way by awakening Touki the way I did and should have trained my body extensively first. And because of this the touki protecting my body was like a wall made of glass, bulletproof glass but glass all the same. My touki was really powerful and efficient for offensive attacks while increasing my stamina but somewhat weak for defense compared to all the Touki users he has seen . A single good and powerful hit from someone as powerful as him could destroy that wall easily and it would take dozens of seconds time for the touki to reform and protect my body again. Seconds that could easily lead to my death. In other words I was a glass cannon.

And if a human like Vasco, though an extremely powerful one, could do this when he was just using twenty percent of his physical power then many supernatural being with powerful body could do the same and take advantage of my weak body to defeat me.

And while I could deal with this weakness by using the Graal, it would be the easy way out like he said. I needed to make my body much more powerful and durable so that my future upgrades are more efficient.

Not like I was even planning these upgrades for now. I didn't want to pressure Valerie and thought that it would be better to use the Graal after I founded my organisation as there is the risk of Valerie being found out if she uses it while being a member of the Church.

Anyway to remedy to this problem, Teacher have been putting me through the ringer and broke my body everyday so that it would grow stronger over time. I wasn't allowed to use Touki and only strenghtening magic was allowed which is in this case _Renforcement, _an old spell that I have not used much and only used it when I was young. It was a spell that I ripped off from the nasuverse.

When I told him of this spell, Teacher looked at me as if I was an idiot and hit me at the top of my head. He told that I was stupid to neglect such a useful spell especially the efficient way I used with _Structural Analysis._

According to him if I used this spell more often, it would have increased the defense of my body and made me fight on par with supernatural creatures. I was confused at first as I could already fight on par with Supernatural creatures with my Touki as it enhenced my physical power beyond them. I didn't see the point in using Renforcement when I already had Touki for offense and defense. It basically played the same role as Renforcement but with greater power and benefits.

He then explained to me that Touki was an aura that surrounded my body, which I already know, but the spell that I created was capable of strenghtening internal organs and muscles to the utter limits. What would have happened if I used Touki and Renforcement at the same time ?

It was then that it striked me and I cursed myself for my stupidity. Touki was an aura that protected the body and could be used to renforce my physical attacks but Renforcement could literrally strenghten my internal body through the muscles and organs.

Teacher explained to me that the body always remember and the more I use a spell the more powerful and efficient it would become over time but a spell for the body like Renforcement could make my body more powerful and durable without the use of Touki or any spells.

He took his Sacred fist as an exemple. At first it was just a basic applicaton of holy light on his fist, he then refined that technique to add more destructive power but he told me that over time the Sacred Fist grew more powerful without any refinement to the technique and without using anymore magic power that he needed in the first place.

So ever since this discovery I trained using only Renforcement to accelerate the growth of my body's physical powers and durability.

I looked up at my Teacher and got up on my feet using my halberd, Houtengeki, as a support then I dashed toward Vasco and resumed our training.

Two hours later and I was once again on the ground completely exhausted while Asia was healing my wounds with Valerie holding Kuroka looking on from the side.

Speaking of these two, their training under Griselda have been going well and while they've been coming back home exhausted every night, they seemed to get stronger by the days.

According to Griselda, they both have great potential and while both of them never fought anyone in their life, they learned fast.

Asia seemed to not like to hurt people but she was still determined to become an exorcist so Griselda have been training her in the use of a bow as she didn't seem to like hurting people in close combat. And Asia seemed to be really talented at it. Griselda also began to teach her elemental magic so that Asia could fuse it with her arrows.

I also began to tutor her in magic myself using the knowledge I gathered from Grauzeberer. I also had tons of idea for her to use after all there was plethora of magical archers in all the animes and mangas I've seen.

As for Valerie she decided to use a sword through the advice of Griselda as she may be a natural holy sword wielder. After all the Church has in its possession a great number of holy swords compared to any other types of weapons. Griselda decided to teach her alongside Xenovia while Vasco would giver her a few pointers.

Asia also seemed to have made a friend in the person of Xenovia. They seemed to be glued to each other since the beginning of their training. Asia seemed extremely pleased that she had new friend in spite of Xenovia's blunt nature and lack of common sense. Though I wagered that the both of them only needed a friend their age. It became a common occurrence for Xenovia to come by to our home to play with Asia.

"Mou, you could at least try not to hurt big brother so badly, Father Strada." I was startled from my thoughts by Asia's complaints.

"All in the name of training Asia dear, I'm sure you're going through the same thing with Griselda." Teacher said with a smile and I swear I could see both Asia and Valerie shiver.

"It's okay, Asia I'm fine." I reassured my little sister as I patted her head.

"Still, you should be careful with your body." She mumbled as I stroked her long blonde hair while Valerie nodded cutely in aggreement.

_Asia-chan and Valerie-chan are so cute when they are worried,_ Kuroka's voice was heard in my head while she patted me with her paw and looked at both of them with sparkling eyes.

I'm sure you're asking yourself how I could hear Kuroka's voice in my head. Well turns out that two Senjutsu masters can talk telepathically if they have a close relationship. And with Kuroka considering me her mate and me seeing her as a dear friend and comrade. Well, let's just say that I've been hearing a lot of suggestive thoughts in my head lately. Fortunately, she can't read my mind or it would have been a disaster for everyone involved especially if she hear my lewd thoughts about her and Valerie.

_Yes, yes they are cute,_ I send back to Kuroka, too tired to gush over their cuteness.

Vasco walked toward me and I got up up from the ground.

"You're getting stronger, Cao Cao." My teacher said.

"It's all thanks to you, Teacher. You've made me realise that I still got much to learn."

Vasco nodded graciously. " I believe that you are ready to go on missions. Not like you were not even before you joined us but it would have been stupid to send you on missions right away like the higher-ups wanted." I scoffed at the mention of these senile old men. "I used these two weeks to teach you what it means to be an exorcist and put the basis of our training regime as it would have been problematic if you didn't have one for when you will be on long term missions."

The higher-ups wanted to send me on missions to measure my worth not a day after I joined the Church. Of course my teacher, Vasco Strada protested, telling them that it would be too much to send me right now when I didn't know the rules of engagement and the politics involved in certain territories as I no longer had the liberties I had as the disciple of Sun Wukong and by proxy the Hindu Pantheon.

It was the reason why I could kill these devils who were after Kuroka. I was a relative unknown back then but now that I joined the Church I became a known entity and the one behind the attack most likely know who I am now but there is nothing they could do about it as back then I was protected by The Great Sage and through him by Indra, the Head of the Hindu pantheon and no one would be stupid enough to challenge a pantheon that could destroy all the factions in the blink of an eye.

However if I did what I did as a member of the Church that is to say killing several High-class devils to protect a Stray Devil, I would have sparked an international incident between the Devil faction and Heaven faction. Now that I am a member of the Church I could not take such liberties anymore.

In a way I was now chained by politics. Of course that is the case of only one of my persona.

"They are also asking you and Valerie to reconsider for your choice of weapon." Vasco asked with a smirk knowing full well my answer.

I sighed in exasperation while Valerie scoffed. Seriously, I know that I will not like the leaders of the Church the moment I decided to join the organisation but I didn't know that they would be so annoying.

A week ago Griselda took Valerie to see if her theory of her being an natural Holy Sword wielder was correct. I accompanied them as I didn't want to leave Valerie alone with the superiors as they would be present for the test. Not that surprising that they would be present when you take into account as there is less than ten natural holy sword wielders in the Church. So they are really valuable much more than artificial one as they could end up being chosen by unique sword like Durandal.

What awaited us was three Excalibur fragments that Valerie needed to lift to see if she was compatible.

Valerie was able to lift Excalibur Rapidly without any effort and without the use of Valper Galilei artificial light attribute.

Of course The higher-ups were really pleased to welcome another natural holy sword wielder among the Church ranks but one of them had the stupid idea to ask to me to do the test.

I kind of panicked inwardly at that moment. Not because I thought I was going to fail but because I was pretty sure I could use it. After all if I could use the strongest holy weapon in the world then I can surely use a cheap knock off of Excalibur. And if I could lift it then it would mean that I had a light attribute and it could put the secret of my Sacred Gear at risk.

In the end I decided to do the test and fake it but I couldn't even pretend to fail as the moment I touched Excalibur Blessing the hall was illuminated by the light released by the sword.

All the people in the room looked at me in awe, even Griselda as I had supposedly a very strong light attribute not seen since Vasco himself according to them. When they asked how I could have such a powerful light I pretended that it was because I was often in the presence of Lord Indra even if I never met the god in my life and that it was his light that made mine so strong as Indra is also the God of Heaven.

They nodded in understanding and fortunately waved of the matter no doubt not wanting to speak of an Heretic God of Heaven other than theirs.

Of course they then tried to pressure to take one of the excalibur fragments as my main weapon not even taking into account that I was not even a swordsman. When I said that I already had a weapon in my Houtengeki, they looked at the spear in disdain and said that the excalibur fragments were superior to that chinese spear with no importance. I scoffed in my mind. As if these cheap knock offs could ever be superior to the weapon of a man who was considered a war god during the era of the Three Kingdoms.

Of course I had to say it out loud if their gaping at me like fishes was any indication. I didn't really want to at that time show my dislike for these things. But you can't really blame me, I never liked the nerfing of the Excalibur in Dxd and as a huge Nasuverse fanfoy, it prickled my sensitivity. If Shirou and Arturia has seen these swords, I was pretty sure that they would do their hardest to destroy these abominations and commit sepukku for the humilation. In fact I was pretty sure that Houtengeki could break them easily and beside I already have the most holy weapon in the world in my arsenal.

Furthermore I had the suspicions that they were fake in the first place. Excalibur is a weapon of the Fae and not of the Christian God. It was also taken back by the Lady of the Lake after King Arthur's death and it could never have been broken as they were no weapons powerful enough to do it during that period.

So no thak you, I don't need these weak swords. Of course they had to pressure Valerie next but she said in no uncertain terms that if her master considered these swords worthless then she doesn't need one.

We left soon after and the higher-ups have been hounding us and trying to reason us to wield one of the Excalibur fragments ever since. I know that it was mostly for politics that they did what they did. After all having two new natural holy sword wielder would send a powerful message but I honestly didn't need one and while I tried to convince Valerie to wield one as she didn't have a strong weapon on hand she refused saying that she will find a powerful weapon herself.

I woke up from my thoughts and answered my Teacher. " Tell these old men that I do not need a weak sword and that I am not a swordsman. My spear is a perfectly good weapon and superior to these cheap knocks off."

"Same as master." Valerie said with a monotone while playing with cat Kuroka.

Vasco chuckled "You might be the only person I know who qualifies the Excaliburs as weak swords but I don't disagree that your spear is superior to them. It is a legendary weapons in its own rights." He then looked at me seriously. " Come by tomorrow to the training ground. It is time for you to meet your new partners."

My mind blanched at this. "So I finally got to meet them. What are they like ?" I asked.

He smirked. "You'll see tomorrow."

I really didn't like the tone of his voice.

* * *

The next day I walked to the training ground of the exorcists early in the morning in order to meet my partners in missions.

Some would say that I do not really need a partner but the Church and more precisely the Exorcists order have always functionned in two or three man team.

Every exorcist are precious to the Church and they want to increase their chance of survival by making them train in team. It is also because sending an human exorcist alone against supernatural creatures is pratically suicide. Only the truly strong ones like Vasco, Griselda, Christaldi and Dulio are exception to these rules as they are veteran exorcists.

And while I am strong in my own right, I am still technically a rookie exorcist and an invaluable asset with my new found status as a natural holy sword wielder even though I do not care one bit about that little tipbit. So I had no choice in this matter and had to work with others which is going to be complicated as I have always fought solo until now and that's not even taking account of them potentially finding out the truth about me.

I sighed and stroked Kuroka's fur while she was stuck in my gakuran. I could see two figures in front me already present at the training ground. They were both teenagers near my age, a young man and a young woman. There was also other people on the training ground, fellow exorcists, and they have been staring since the moment I entered the field.

_Why are they staring at you darling?_ Kuroka asked in my mind,curiously.

_I don't know_, I answered back.

The teenage male is a silver haired boy with red eyes. I immediately recognised him as Siegfred better known as _Chaos Edge Sieg_.

As for the female, she is a beautiful young woman with sky blue eyes. I guessed that she must be Jeanne, _the Battle Maiden_.

"So you are Cao Cao." Siegfried said quietly and then smirked. "You don't look like much."

I raised an eyebrow at the challenging tone but before I could answer Jeanne butted in. "Don't be so mean, Sieg-kun !" She looked back at him with a smile. "Don't pay attention to him. It's nice to meet you Cao-kun."

Well, at least one of them have manners. "Nice to meet you. As you already know I am Cao Cao. I will be working with you from now on." I greeted them politely.

"Yes we already know who you are. The guy who have been fast tracked in the order through recommendations from the top brass. Tell me is it true that you are trained by Vasco Strada ?" He asked me with a scowl.

I was confused by his antagonism toward me but I answered all the same. "Yes it is true."

"Tch, so not only you payed your way to our ranks but you had the gall to have them order Vasco Strada to train you." Siegfried said with a frown.

Why would he think such a thing ? "What are you insinuating ?" I asked while Kuroka hissed at the silver aired boy.

"All exorcists need to go through a test to join the order and before that there is years of training to get to that point. All of us did it even Vasco Strada, Griselda Quarta and Dulio Gesualdo but here you come, a foreigner who is not even from the faith, literally walking to our order without any complaints from the top brass. In fact they told us that you were recommended by them and that they had ordered Strada to train you. It's too fishy and taking into account that you look like these arrogant rich boy from Asia. You must have payed them to fast track you into out ranks. What I find the most insulting is that you got them to order Vasco to train you even though he never took a disciple before you, not even me." Siegfried told me with a scoff while Jeanne looked at me with a strained with smile and the other exorcist in the field looked at me with a frown.

Oh these currupt bastards ! Don't tell me they did what I think they did.

I was recommended by my Shishou, Sun Wukong, to join the Church and I knew that they knew about this but instead to telling their men that I am the disciple of a youkai from an heretic religion, they turned it around and told them that they were the one who recommended me knowing full well that I will be surely among the strongest of their ranks thus increasing their popularity to the masses as they will believe that they were the one who recruited such a strong asset.

They even told the people that they were the one who ordered Vasco to train me when the truth is that Vasco was the one who made me into an exorcist and chose to train me. It is also kind of sad and funny they their own men believe them to be corrupt enough to accept bribe money.

Though it will be useless to tell the exorciscts in front of me this as they will surely not believe me. However I was getting kind of pissed that they will make such assuptions about me and what do you mean I look an arrogant asian rich boy ? I may be wearing expensive clothings but they were gift from Shishou and beside I grow up in a farm with the bare minimum, damnit.

I was startled from my thoughts by Siegfried. "Listen rich boy this is not a place for someone like you. Go back to your big house in China. I do not plan to carry a burden in my missions."

Jeanne looked at me apologising with her eyes. "Sieg-kun is right. You should go back to your home. We have a dangerous job." She said with a smile.

_What you?! How dare they insult darling?!_ Kuroka hissed in anger in my head.

What the hell ? Are they dismissing me because I am a foreigner from Asia ? Does they not recognize my name, you know Cao Cao like the hero of the Three Kingdoms who defeated Lu bu.

And then it me.

The exorcist forces is mainly made of European and because the Church is the only human organisation that they know of, they seem to believe that there is no strong humans in other countries mainly because of their upbringings. They grow up in a place where the stories and legends of Christianity were glorified and all the others legends were ignored in the basis that they were from a "fake" religion and foreign countries not affiliated with the Church thus it warped their view of the world.

Of course they must have learned about other factions mainly in case they got to fight them but they must have never learned of how strong they truly are. Though I could understand why they never heard of Cao Cao as even I wouldn't have known about the Three Kingdoms if it wasn't for animes so for orphans who have never lived in society, it is understandable.

And beside I can understand their aminosity toward me. Teacher told me that I was to be the leader of our team despite the fact that I am technically a rookie exorcist so it must have pissed them of that I was made team leader on top of the supposed rumors about me.

But still, it was incredibly arrogant of them to dismiss me in such a way. Sometimes I forgot that the original members of the Hero Faction were really cocky and that it was the reason of their downfall.

That's not good. Not good at all. I won't have potential recruits of my organisation have such a narrow minded view of the world and have my fellow exorcists believe me to be a weakling.

So I decided to do what I did best.

Pissing of and teach a lesson to people full of themselves.

I kept silent for a moment and then I laughed, a long and mocking laugh. "Hahahahhaha !"

They were all staring at me with disbelief.

"What's so funny ?" Siegfried growled.

"I-It's hilarious that you seem to believe that you are top dog here." I regained control of my laughter. "Let me disabuse you of that notion. " As I finished talking, a pressure beared upon Jeanne, Siegfried, and the rest of the exorcists. A pressure that made them unable to even move.

"You seem to believe that I am weak and that I got in through the use of money. I can understand the latter, after all your superiors can be quite corrupt and I can't really deny that I got fast tracked but why do you think that I am not strong enough to join you." I asked them with a smile and the I got an idea.

"How about a bet to prove you wrong if this little demonstration was not enough ?" I told them.

"I'm listening." Siegfried said and despite the sweat caused by the pressure, he was grinning like a maniac in my direction.

"You and Jeanne will fight me right here right now. If I win, you have to accept me as team leader but If I lose, I will leave and never come back." I posed the terms of ours par with a smirk.

Both of their eyes narrowed.

"Are you understimating us ?" Siegfried growled.

"One of us is more than enough." Jeanne said with a strained smile.

"I'll be frank with you." I smirked. "The only chance you have to to win against me is if you fight together."

Both of them growled at my taunting and it seemed that I even succeded in pissing of Jeanne who did not seem to get angry easily.

"You'll regret this." Jeanne said with a frown in my direction.

All the exorcists in field backed away from the three of us and stayed in a corner, safe from the coming battle while I deposed Kuroka on the ground.

Siegfried summoned Gram also know as the Demonic Emperor Sword and the Sword of the Sun. He took a battle stance and looked at me with battle lust clear in his eyes.

As for Jeanne, she summoned a holy sword that looked like a rapier with her Sacred Gear Blade Blacksmith and pointed her sword in my direction as if to say to prepare myself for combat.

I obliged and summoned my halberd, Houtengeki. We were watching each other silently, the tension between us growing.

_Kick their asses darling!_ Kuroka cheered me on from the side.

I broke that silence by teleporting in front of them using Soru. Their eyes widened and they only had a second to block the strike from my spear. The collision of our weapons created a shockwave and I could see them gritting their teeth barely being able to withstand my touki-enhenced strength.

But I wasn't finished as I cocked my spear back and sent several thrusts made of pure touki in their direction. Siegfried protected himself using his sword while Jeanne created a wall made of holy swords to protect herself.

The both of them having enough of my constant attacks decided to counterattack. Jeanne made a wave with her swords and a literal mountain of holy swords erupted from the ground in my direction.

I waved with my hand. **"Shinra Tensei."** A powerful force scattered the holy swords in the wind but before I could think of my next move, the burning edge of Gram came in my vision. I immediately parried the coming blow and decided to stop going easy on them.

My hands released the spear while I let my mind hold it with the use of tekinesis. Siegfried was so surprised that he didn't see my now released and renforced hand punching him in the stomach. Siegfried was thrown away but I wasn't finished with him.

"**Flying Spear of the Sage.**" Charging my sprear with Touki and nature energy, I launched it at the still flying Siegfried. He immediately dodged but my spear followed like an homing missile and just for good measure I accelerated the speed of the weapon using time magic creating a sonic boom when the weapon moved.

While keeping an eye on Siegfried and controlling my spear with my mind I focused my attention on Jeanne. I praised myself on my mind for recreating_ Memory Partition_ in my spare time. A spell from the Alchemist of Atlas from the nasuverse, that allowed me to separate my mind so that I could do and think two things at the the same time.

Taking a martial arts stance, I dashed toward Jeanne who was looking at me with unnerved eyes. I sent several blows at her with my touki-enhenced fists but Jeanne dodged them and decided to back away and smirked.

She then created dozens of holy swords in the air and launched them at me while probably thinking that long range battle was not my forte. Why everyone seems to belive ? Maybe it's because I mainly uses my spear in combat but I digress.

Several magic circles appeared in the air courtesy of myself and lightning blots came out of them destroying every swords coming in my direction.

Wood and Light magic may be my speciality but that doesn't mean that I am not capable of using basics spells such as these.

"Enough !" A roar was heard in the training ground. I looked at Siegfried who sported a furious expression. He then sent a wave of pure fire and destruction at my spear using Gram, destroying everything in its passage and throwing my spear away but Houtengeki relentless pursuit was not without consequences. While he didn't sustain any injuries, I could see that his spirit was damaged and his strength, speed and stamina have greatly decreased.

Siegfried then looked at me with a furious expression and said with cold fury.

"**Balance Breaker : Chaos Egde Asura Ravage**."

Four dragons arms appeared, and his six arms now were all holding a demonic swords. Swords that I immediately recognised.

Gram, Balmung, Nothung, Tyrfing, Dainslef.

I did not know where he got all these High-tier demonic swords as it was never explained in canon but it is still impressive that he could wield all of them at the time.

I took back my spear in my hands but before I could plan around this new development, I heard a woman's voice crying out with a determined tone.

"**Balance Breaker : Stake Victim Dragon.**"

A dragon literally made of Holy swords appeared in the training and both of my opponents were looking at me with respect.

"You are strong." Siegfried said grinning maniacally despite the exhaustion he surely felt. "I apologize for doubting your strength but that doesn't mean I will accept you as our team leader."

"Sieg-kun is right, you are crazy strong and I apologise for thinking such bad things about you." Jeanne said with an apologetic smile. "So please surrender, I accept you in our team."

"Surrender ? What do you mean surrender ? I want to fight until the end." Siegfried said to Jeanne.

"Sieg-kun, we can't hurt our future teammate too badly."

I raised an eyebrow. "Even after the beating I just gave you, you still think that you can defeat me."

"But…we are both in our Balance Breaker and I do not want to hurt you." Jeanne said with a frown.

"So what ? I will not leave until you accept me as your leader." Both of this team and my future organisation.

Siegfried laughed. "I like you more and more Cao Cao." He said grinning.

Jeanne stared for a few seconds and nodded resolutely. "Very well, let us fight until the end Cao-kun."

We both looked at each other for the final phase of our fight and then the silence was broke by Siegfried who send several waves of fire, wind, ice and destruction in my direction while Jeanne's dragon roared and sent hundreds of holy swords toward me.

I breathed deeply looking at the deadly attack coming at me and thought that it was time to end this.

A red aura enveloped my spear. "**Sky Piercing Art : Thrust.**" A red beam of power pierced through everything in my way and rendered all of their attacks useless. Moreover the penetration ended in the chest of the Dragon destroying it into pieces.

They only had a second to gape in disbelied before I made my last move.

"**Wood Realese : Great Spear Tree**." Thick roots came out of the ground and trapped my opponents in it. I then charged the roots with nature energy and I made it drain the life force of the trapped targets.

They tried to get out but they were getting more and more exhausted because of the life force I am taking from them and if you take into account that Siegfried spirit has already been damaged earlier and that I just destroyed Jeanne's Balance Breaker making her even more drained that she already was.

In other word they both lost spectacularily.

"It's over. Both of you fought well, as expected of my teammates." I said with a smile while walking in their direction.

"Release..us and fight us properly." Siegfried cried out from his trapped position.

"Well, I could have used more deadly techniques instead of using an immobilisation technique but we have our first mission tomorrow, a mission that Vasco Strada chose especially for us so I didn't want to hurt you too badly." I told them.

"Well, I'm not complaining. I do not really want to see what these deadlier techniques would have done to us." Jeanne said with a weak chuckle.

Of course it wasn't enough for Siegfried and he continued to protest but I cut him off before he could continue.

"Anyway this fight ended in my victory so it means you have to accept me as your team leader." I said while looked at them expectantly.

They both looked at each other and then looked back at me.

"We accept you, Cao-Kun, as our team leader." Jeanne said with a smile.

I nodded to myself. "That's good, really good. Now as my first order as a team leader I ask you to come at dawn tomorrow to see our Eminence Strada for our first mission together."

I then turned my back on them and started to leave while taking Kuroka who was smirking back in my arms. It seemed the fight drawed a crowd and they were all staring at me in disbelief.

"W-Wait, you forget to release us."

"Y-yeah you can't leave us here, L-leader."

I looked back at them with a smirk. "These trees will disappear in three hours. It will be your punishment for disrespecting me."

"N-nono Cao-kun, come back !"

"Y-you bastard !"

Well, it is certainely going to be fun with these two.

_Devious_, Kuroka said in my mind and I could hear the mischievous smile in her voice.

_I know,_ I answered back with a smirk.

_You're so sexy when you show others who is the alpha_, Kuroka purred in delight.

I nearly face faulted but I stealed my nerves and walked as if I heard nothing.

I didn't want to ruin my badass exit after all.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**Thank you for reading! I hope that you liked it.**

**In this chapter we have Cao Cao and co makes their first step in the Church, they start their their training and we have a fight with his partners.**

** For Sieg and Jeanne, the MC could have avoided all this without a fight but he needed to makes them respect him but also humble them as he didn't want them to too cocky as it was their downfall in canon.**

**Of course, they still didn't let go of their huge ego but it was just a single fight,it would take them longer to stop understimate people and be too arrogant.**

**Until next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello Everyone!**

**Really sorry for the delay, it's summer and I have a life too, you know? I had to juggle between my part time job, friends and family so it was difficult to find time to sit down on my dest and write.**

**I'll try to write the next chapter faster but no promises.**

**So without further ado, I give you the chapter.**

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

6 months later

Months passed by quickly since I joined the Church and became the leader of my own team. A team that is becoming more and more difficult to handle. Indeed, while I earned Siegfried and Jeanne's respect and they both accepted me as their team leader, it didn't mean that they listened to my orders.

We were assigned a dozens of missions in these 6 months, be it the extermination of a stray devil in Paris, capturing a stray magician that have been experimenting on innocents in Manchester and even wiping out a small tribe of werewolves in Africa who have been been rampaging in the pursuit of their next preys. However during all these missions, the both of them were incapable of following a clear plan made by me or even listening to basic orders.

I didn't think that it was because they didn't respect my authority but mostly because they were not used to following orders and and they tended to do things their own ways as they are both High-ranking exorcists.

Take Siegfried as an exemple. That boy is an absolute battle maniac who do not care one bit about the missions but only about the opponents we were going to face and how strong they were. During the werewolf mission, the second we found the werewolf's trails he immediately separated from us so that he could challenge himself against them. When Jeanne and I caught up with him, he had already killed a dozens of them but the majority ran away and it took us days to find all of them. All this wouldn't have happened if we had ambushed them as team and dealt with them in one fell swoop instead of needlessly looking for the enemies for days.

As for Jeanne, my difference with her was different. While she was respectful with me and tended to follow my lead in most missions, she tend to let her emotions get the better of her. I could use the mission with the stray magician as an exemple. When we finally found the magicians's hiding place, he was in the middle of his preparation to dissect a small child. Jeanne was so enraged that she forsook my carefully made plan to discetly sneak into the warehouse, save the child and kill the magician while he was distracted. She ended up going through the front door and alert the magician immediately and gave him time to take the child as an hostage. If it wasn't for my quick thinking the child would have died.

Another problem is their ego. It's as if they believe that no matter the situation there is absolutely no way for them to die. I honestly do not know if this is arrogance, a lack of self-preservation or them understimating their opponnents. Though in my opinion I believe it is the latter and it is mostly due to the fact that they've never been in a true life and death situation. They've never fought against someone that was so far above their level that the situation was completely hopeless.

To deal with these flaws and to keep their ego in check, I've been beating them bloody in the training ground pratically every day but it didn't have the escompted effect as Sieg is always eager for a fight even a one sided one while Jeanne do not take them seriously as I do not fight against them with the intent to kill.

Being a team leader is harder than I thought it would be.

Though it wasn't like it was all that bad as we all became good friends in these last six months. Sieg and I both shared a passion for fighting and weapons and Jeanne has the same taste for books as me. We were also a good team in terms of battle prowess and individuality. The only thing we really lacked was a good team cohesion. Though I realised that I was too harsh to blame their unsubordianate nature and arrogance as the cause of all our team problems. I realised that I was also at fault as I didn't know if I should treat them as friends or subordinates and still lacked exprerience to lead a team.

This is why I've decided to use another way to finally make them tone down their arrogance and make them watch death face to face. And this method was to merely ask my teacher, Vasco Strada, to give us a dangerous mission where we could die at any moment, even for me.

Such missions are becoming rarer and rarer in this day and age, mostly because the Three Factions are on their biggest period of stability so I know full well that it was a foul gambit but I needed to do it or I may have no choice but to make them listen to me through fear or worse show them my Longinus to awe them into submission when I still do no trust them fully. Beside I did not want yes man as my teammates but people capable of thinking for themselves.

But I promised myself that I would never use such methods and would earn their loyalty through respect.

So after a few weeks after I fowarded my request to my teacher, he finally summoned my team and I about an important mission.

We were all waiting in his office while waiting for him when he finally entered the room and adressed us.

"Ha, you're already here, good," Vasco began while skimming through a document in his hand. He then looked at us seriously. "Honestly I planned to give this mission to Dulio or Christaldi as it is a S-ranked one but I believe that you are ready for a mission of this caliber."

_S-rank, finally_, I thought in excitement. I could hear Jeanne gasp in shock and Sieg grin in anticipation.

the Church's mission are classed in order of importance and dangerousness similar to a RPG. My team and I have mostly done B-rank missions but it is the first time that he gave us a S-rank one. Ordinarily, S-rank are extremely rare in this day and age and when Heaven forward us a mission of such importance, Vasco or Dulio and the others top exorcists, the elites of the Vatican, are the one sent on these missions.

It seems that my teacher listened to my request and is giving us more responsability. If we succeed in this mission, the higher-ups will most likely send us on more dangerous missions or missions with important politics repercussions.

"The mission parameters are thus," I was strartled from my thoughts by Vasco's voice. "The wielder of Regulus Nemea was spotted in Greece, hunted by stray magicians. Your mission will be to help him escape the magicians and investigate the true indentities of these people. However there is an additional parameter to the mission. Longinus user tend to go berserk in the face of death, if that happens then your task will be to take him down and if you have no choice, kill him." Vasco finished with a grim voice but I was too shocked to see this.

Regulus Nemea, What the fuck? Since when there is a wielder of Regulus Nemea?

Wait, if I remember correctly, the possessor was killed by unknown attackers and the golden lion somewhat materialised itself and killed them all. Later, Sairoarg Bael found him and tamed him but the details of the wielder's death was mostly unknown.

However there was another details that bothered me. How did the Church know about him? I voiced my question to his Eminence and he answered.

"I've been in contact with him for a few months now, trying to convince him and his brother to join the Church. He was close to accept when he sent a distress signal to me with a message telling me that he was hunted. I planned to go myself but I was summoned by Lord Michael so I decided to send you all instead." He said with a sigh.

"I see." It's logical but what worried me are these magicians that are hunting him. It can't be a coincidence that a bunch of Stray magicians are hunting a Longinus user. They could be related to the Khaos Brigade.

I shook my head. It's too big of a conjecture. It might be a coincidence. What matters is to find that guy before he is killed and the Nemean Lion go berserk. There is also the possibility of encountering Sairoarg Bael. A thought for later.

Vasco left us to attend to others matters while we all made our way to our quarters to pack our travel bag.

"Can you believe it, guys ? A S-rank mission and we're going to fight the Lion King." Sieg chatted with a manic grin on his face.

I narrowed my eyes at what he said and prepared to scold but Jeanne beat me to it.

"Sieg-kun, we're not going to fight him ! Our mission is to save him."

"Yeah, but there is the possibilty of him going berserk then we'll have no choice but to fight him." Sieg said with a smirk.

"Enough, our mission is investigate these magicians and save the wielder of Regulus Nemea. We need to do everything in our power to stop him from going berserk. Do not speak of a potential ally as if he was already lost in madness." I said firmly.

Siegfried huffed and Jeanne nodded in aggreement.

"Cao-kun is right, as always." Jeanne said with a smile.

_At least Jeanne listen to me_, I thought in my head.

"Now, go pack your things. We need to go as fast as possible before he is killed."

"Yeah yeah, Leader." Sieg said with a wave.

"On my way !" Jeanne cheered and ran off.

While they were gone I sent a telepatic message to Kuroka who was monitoring Asia and Valerie while they were training with Sister Griselda, informed her of the mission and told her to look after them.

_Take care of them, Kuroka_, I told her.

_Count on me nya, be careful on your end darling_, She said with a worried voice.

_I will, I promise_, I sent a last telepatic message.

Rgulus Nemea huh.

Despite the confident attitude I was projecting outside, I had a bad feeling about this mission.

Let's hope that it is just a feeling.

X

We were making our way in the woods , in the area where the wielder of Regulus Nemea was last spotted. I was contantly using my Sage arts senses, trying to find his location but to no avail.

"What do you think these stray magicians want with the Longinus user." Jeanne suddenly asked me.

"Who knows, they most likely wants to extract his Sacred Gear and use for future experiments." I answered, however inwardly I was worried about the identities of these strays. They can't be just random stray magicians?

"Who cares about them, they're just cowards using dirty tricks." Siegfried scoffed.

I forgot that Sieg looked down on magic users in general, mostly because he believe that the use of weapons is the greatest form of combat and anyone using magics in combats are cowards which is ridiculous as magic is just another card in ones arsenal.

I've been trying for months to convince him to learn magic but he refused everytime as it is anathema to his goal of becoming the strongest swordsman. As for Jeanne, she was more receptive to the idea but still refused because she believes that magic is for heretics.

The Church and their backwards thinking have a knack to greatly irritate me.

"Ironic coming from you, Siegfried," I told him while looking back. He looked at me curiously. "You know that your ancestor Sigurd, the King of Warriors, was one of the greatest Runes master in history. Taught by his wife, Brynhild and knowledge that he aquired by eating the heart of an ancient dragon. Does that mean that your ancestor was a coward?" I asked with a smirk.

Siegfried sputtered in denial. "W-What ! No ! Sigurd couldn't have been…" "And yet he was." I interruped him.

"Pfff." A snicker was heard from my right.

We then both looked at Jeanne who was giggling at Sieg. "He got you here, Sieg-kun."

Siegfried huffed and looked away but he was looking contemplative about what I said. Maybe he will finally accept my offer to learn magic.

The reason why I was so adamant that they learn magic was because I wanted them both to be stronger than they were in canon. I didn't want them to rely on their Sacred Gears or Demonic Swords in Sieg's case like a clutch. Their overconfidence and their overreliance on the tools they were given and birthed with was their downfall in the canon timeline.

It would be stupid of me to grow stronger by myself without offering that same strength to my allies. This is why I wanted them to learn a specific kind of magic that fits their fighting style and maybe teach them Touki in the future when I achieve the rank of master. I could also upgrade their bodies with the help of Valerie and the Graal but it depends on them and their trustworthiness.

"Ne, Cao-kun," I was stratled from my thoughts by Jeanne's voice and I looked back at her. "You know a lot of things. Where did you learn all that?" She asked me curiously with a tilt of her head.

"Well, it is one of the perks of being trained by the Great Sage, Sun Wukong, one of the oldest being of the world." I answered her. "Though I believe that it is mostly thanks to the Dragon King Yu-long that I know all these little tipbits." I heard a gasp from my teammates.

"You met a Dragon King?!" Jeanne exclaimed.

"How are you not dead?" Sieg said watching me intently.

I was surprised by their reactions but I guessed that for them the Dragon Kings were terrifying and violent existence.

"You're overreacting. Not all dragons are violent. Yu-Long is just a lazy bastard who likes eating and sleeping. " It was even true. The Jade Dragon Yu long was a strange contradiction of lazy and lively very much unlike his brethren. " And beside you forgot that I was trained by Sun Wukong. Of course I would have met his Dragon King partner. It is where all my history knowledge comes from. Everytime I would challenge him to a fight, he would distract me by telling me stories."

Yu-Long was known as the Dragon of Wisdom despite his lazy nature. If others dragons hoarded treasures then Yu-Long hoarded knowledge. He always bragged to me that he learned everything from every hero of history. It was kind of his hobby beside degusting good cuisine.

"You…challenged a Dragon King?" Sieg looked at me in disbelief, even Jeanne looked at me as if I was crazy.

I scratched my cheek in embarrasment. "Well, I wanted to see how strong I was compared to a Dragon King." Not like he ever accepted. Everytime I would come in his place in the mountain to badger him to fight me, he would always distract by going on a tangent and speaking about my favorite heroes like Karna, Oda Nobunaga etc. I always fell to the ploy because I loved history in my previous life and was facinated by Yu-Long tales as he knows things that were never written in the history books. After a time, I stopped to challenge him and would simply come to hear his stories.

Not like it bothered him. Yu-Long took a liking to me and appreciated the company.

"Whoa, you're either really brave or really reckless Cao-Kun." Jeanne said, her mouth still a little parted.

"Do not let anyone tell you that you do not have balls of steel." Sieg said, impressed by my supposed bravery even though Yu-Long would have never hurt me.

"Haha," I laughed off their comments.

We continued through the woods while making small talk occasionnally but still keeping an eye for our target until I suddenly felt my Sage Arts senses alerting me of two tremoundeous life force coming from the East.

"What's wrong ?" Sieg asked, having seen me go still while Jeanne stopped advancing and looked at me intently.

"I found him, follow me." I said to my teammates and started running in the direction I felt the disturbance while Jeanne and Sieg ran after me.

We came accross a clearing and the sight that greeted us was shocking even to me.

The field was completely littered with corpses. They were some who seemed to have been mauled to death while others had giants claw marks on their bodies and did I mention that they were wearing magicians robes. What was stranger was the fact that I felt a few devils among the dead if the bat wings were any indication.

However all this was unimportant compared to what I was seeing in the middle of the field.

A young and very muscled man was facing a gigantic golden lion with a maniac grin on his face while a young blonde-haired woman with elf-life features was watching from the sidelines with a worried face.

I immediately recognised the two figures facing each other. How could I not ? One was releasing an overwhelming amount of Touki even bigger than mine while the other was literally a golden lion.

The Strongest Youth and Future Lion King, Sairoarg Bael,

And The greatest of the Nemean Lion race, Regulus.

It seems that we were too late. The possesor of Regulus Nemea must be already dead and Regulus materialised itself in the world after his death and killed his partner's murderers, murderers that I suddenly have an inkling of their real identity.

While I rummaged in my head about the identities of these people, it seemed that the young devils finally recognised our presence and looked at us in surprise.

The woman with elf-like features who must be Kuisha Abaddon, Sairoarg's Queen, put herself between herself and us.

She looked at us with determination while my two teammates drew their swords and spoke, "Master, Exorcists." She seems to have recognised us and informed her King of our affiliation with two simple words.

Sairoarg looked back at us in shock and muttered. " Exorcists? What are they doing here?"

But that moment of innatention was his mistake. The Nemean Lion suddenly let out an earth shaking roar and charged at Sairoarg with incredibled speed. The golden lion collided with the young devil and despite the protection afforded by Touki, he was thrown away like a ragdoll.

Seeing the agressive nature of the Nemean Lion I immediately summoned my halberd but before I could give out clear instructions to my teammates I heard an excited voice on my left.

"Finally, a challenge. **Balance Breaker : Chaos Edge Asura Ravage** !" Sieg intoned and summoned his five Demonic Swords and held them with his six hands.

_Damnit Sieg!_ I thought in frustration as I watched the swordsman throw himself at the golden lion, ready to cut the beast into pieces. Except it wasn't what happened.

Sieg's swords where among the strongest of the world and Gram is considered the stongest demonic sword and yet it didn't even scratch the Nemean Lion. If Sieg's shocked face face was any indication, it never happened before. However I was not surprised the Nemean Lion skin is said to to unpenetrable.

Sieg wasn't deterred by his failure and tried again and again to slash him into pieces but to no effect. After a few seconds, Regulus seemed to grow bored with his attempt and decided to retaliate. And what a counterattack it was.

The lion's paw blurred and dealt a devastating blow to Sieg's chest making him cough blood and made him crash into a tree. But the Golden Lion wasn't finished with him. The beast launched itself at the demonic swordsman, creating a sonic boom and destroying the ground he stepped on, ready to mawl him to death but before he could, my teammate Jeanne put herself between the beast and Siegfried and created a wall of holy swords and sent it in the direction of the golden lion.

However it was useless, Regulus Nemea is said to give immunity to all kind of projectiles attacks and The Nemean Lion clearly possess that ability as the swords merely bounced off it's skin.

You must be wondering why I still haven't joined the fray. The answer was simple. Jeanne and Siegfried needed to face the lion themselves.

The reason I accepted this mission was to make them understand that their is always someone stronger and in their case there is many. I wanted to humble them and make them stop making rash decisions during missions and listen to other people's opinions. They needed to accept their weakness and go past their arrogance. And what better way to do this than to face the overwhelming might of the strongest Nemean Lion, a beast that even the great Hero Heracles had trouble defeating.

It was cold and pragmatic but I need to be both of these things if I want to create my own faction and protect it.

I watched the lion literally crush Jeanne into the ground with his paw and thought that it was enough. I reinforced my body and weapon with Touki and looked back at Sairoarg who was getting up with the aid of Kuisha. We made eye contact and we both nodded to each other, understanding that we were allies in this fight. Besides I simply needed to aid Sairoarg in the battle and wait for him to tame Regulus. Better that the lion stays in the Sairoarg's hands than mine as I had no way to control the beast.

I launched myself at the same time as the strongest youth in the direction of the Nemean Lion who was preparing himself to deal the finishing blow to Jeanne. I used the blunt side of my spear knowing that cutting him would be useless. I charged the weapon with Senjutsu for good measures and a red aura envelopped it.

"**Sky Piercing Art : Blunt Strike.**" I cried out while Houtengeki crashed into the golden lion's flesh. At the same time, I looked at Sairoarg who was charging an enormous amount of Touki in his fist and watched as the air around his fist literally distorted and a thunderous noise was heard coming from the movement of his hand.

"AAAAHHHH." Sairoarg let out a war cry and punched the Golden Lion at the same time as me. Despite Regulus unbreakable skin, he was thrown away by the force of our attack but we didn't waste this opportunity as we both teleported in front of the flying lion and sent a flurry of blows with both my spear and his fists.

Our blows impacted with the beast and created several shockwaves but the Nemean Lio seemed to have enough of our attacks as he twirled around in the air and clawed us on the sides.

As we both impacted the ground and tried to get up I watched the Golden Lion let out a defying roar and smashing the ground with his paws. The ground literally erupted and several gigantic earth spikes were sent in our direction.

I watched the incoming attack coming in my direction and prepared a spell to protect myself but before I could several black holes appeared around me. The black holes redirected the attack in the direction of the golden lion. I watched to the side as Kuisha Abaddon raising her hand and sending back the earth spikes.

The Nemean Lion dodged all of them and the earth spikes impaced the ground, creating a rising smoke which was hiding the lion from view.

When the smoke cleared out, the Nemean Lion was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?!" Sairoarg cried out and I used my Sage Arts to find his life force.

After a few seconds I found the beast and he was rushing out of the forest with incredible and was going in the direction of a mountain. I prepared myself to run after him but I looked back at my teammates who were getting up and reconsidered.

Instead I went in the direction of Jeanne of Siegfried to check up on them. They both seemed to be fine despite the blood coming out of Sieg's mouth but they both had frustrated expression. It was also clear that they were both somewhat troubled by the experience. But again who can blame them? Facing the wrath of the Lion King was terryfying even for me.

"Are you alright, both of you?" I asked them in concern and feeling a little guilty that I let them get injured to teach them a lesson.

"Yeah," Sieg said with a frustrated tone.

"Hhaha, don't worry Cao-kun, we're fine!" Jeanne said cheerily but it was clear that it was entirely fake.

"Jeanne…" I said in concern. "You don't have to act like-" "We were useless." Sieg interruped angrily.

I looked back at him in surprise but he continued. "I didn't even last a minute against the beast while you and a freaking devil went toe to toe with the golden lion." He said with an angry tone while Jeanne looked at her feet in shame.

"Siegfried, you realise that it was the strongest Nemean Lion that we were facing, a beast that was sealed inside a Longinus. It was never going to be easy in the first place. Your mistake was to think that you could defeat such a monster by yourself. There is a reason why only Heracles was able to singlehandly slay a Nemean Lion. Sometimes one's need to swallow his pride and ask for help if one's want to triumph against a stronger adversary. There is no shame in that." I scolded him as gently as I could.

Siegfried seemed to comtemplate what I said and answered after he seemed to realise something. "You…You're right. I have been arrogant all this while thinking that I could defeat everything I came across simply because I am hero descendant and was chosen by six high-tier Demonic Swords. I was just a big fish in a small pond. I understand after seeing you, the lion and even that devil, that there is many people stronger than me on this earth and if I want to grow stronger I need to stop thinking that victory will simply comes to me due to my lineage." He said seriously and looked back at me with conviction and bowed. "I apologise for my insubordination, Leader, from now on I will follow your orders faithfully so that you could lead us to victory."

I was pleased to see Siegfried mature so much from this experience. It seems that he is ready to achieve his true potential. I gripped his shoulders and told him seriously.

"That's all I ask, Sieg." I looked back at Jeanne who was looking like she wanted to be scolded by me and reprimanded for her reckless actions.

"As for you Jeanne," She looked at me expectantly. "I admire your loyalty to your friend and even your desire to save the innocents but you shouldn't let your emotions rule your mind. Instead of charging recklessly toward an opponent who could have easily killed you in order to save your friend, you should have consulted me for a plan or at least thought rationally about your next course of action. You should think before you act or you'll end up getting yourselve or worse your companions killed."

She looked at her feet in shame but answered me after a few seconds "I…would be dead if it wasn't for you. That beast could have teared me apart. It would have been so easy and I understand now how close to death I was. All because of my recklessness." She looked back at me with conviction. "I will be better from now on, This is a promise !"

I smiled at her warmly "Good," I looked behind me at Sairoarg who was closing the eyes of a corpse while Kuisha was standing vigilantly next to him and watching us like a hawk. "Come, we need to find the Nemean Lion before it goes on a rampage." I told them.

"What about the devils?" Jeanne asked innocently while Sieg sent a suspicious glare in their direction.

"We'll ask for their help." I said simply.

"WHAT ?! B-but they're devils !" Sieg cried out and Jeanne looked at me as if I was crazy.

"So?" It's not like I had a choice as Sairoarg was the only one who can tame the Golden Lion. We needed his help to resolve this situation peacefully and beside it wasn't the Nemean Lion I was worried about but the attackers. They may send reinforcement and render this situation even worse.

"B-but!" Sieg stuttered in incomprehension.

I sighed. "Sieg, you know that we need their help to capture the lion. We won't be able to succeed by ourselves."

"But they could be allies of the attackers. They may be the last survivors of the Lion's rampage." Jeanne pointed out to me.

I doubt it but they didn't know that. "Well, why don't we ask them then?" I said while walking in the direction of Sairoarg and his Queen while Jeanne and Sieg followed me in confusion.

I watched as Sairoarg breathed deeply and looked sadly at the corpse he was attending. It was the body of a young man with long grey hair, wearing greek armor. I guessed that this must be the murdered wielder of Regulus Nemea. For some reason I felt like I know him or at the very least some who looks like him.

Sairoarg sensed my presense and looked at me stoically, Kuisha took a step forward to put herself between her King and us but he raised an hand to stop her.

I looked at him for a few seconds and spoke. "Cao Cao," He looked at me with surprise and confusion but I continued. "That's my name and these are my teammates, Jeanne and Siegfried." They both nodded reluctanly. "We are exorcist from the Vatican as I'm sure you figured out."

Sairoarg seemed shocked that an exorcist would greet him with such politeness to a devil like him but soon regained his calm and introduced himself in turn. "I am Sairoarg of the House of Bael and this is Kuisha Abaddon, my Queen." He said politely while Kuisha nodded curtly.

I hummed in thought and looked at the the dead body. "What happened here and who killed him?"

Sairoarg looked at me strangely. "I'm surprised that you do not suspect us to be the accomplices of the attackers. There is a few devils among their numbers after all and I could have tried to forcefully reincarnate him for all you know" He said calmly and Jeanne and Sieg tensed at this and put an hand on their weapons.

I shook my head. "If you wanted to reincarnate the Longinus user into your peerage, I do not believe that you would have done by force as it is known to be unwise and suicidal to try it with a Longinus user with the risk of them going berserk. No the only one stupid enough to do this are either the Old Maou Faction or the most stupid and arrogant of the young devils. I do not believe that you are either of these things."

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You are a strange exorcist."

I smirked. "And you are a strange devil. I've never heard of a devil capable of using Touki and with such profficiency."

"I could say the same about you. An exorcist using Touki is just as strange as a Devil." He shot back with humor in his voice.

We smirked at each other.

That's what I liked about that guy. A true hardworker with neither the arrogance and sence of entitlement as the rest of the devil nobles. I remembered why he was one of my favorite character in canon.

"So, who is he ?" I said coming back to the matter at hand while looking at the dead body of the young man.

Sairoarg crossed his muscular arms and looked at the body sadly. "His name was Alcides. He was one of my clients."

"Were you trying to convince him to become one of you filthy devils ?" Sieg interrupted with suspicion.

"How dare you insult Sairoarg-sama?!" Kuisha said with anger while Sairoarg tried to calm her down.

"Sieg, enough." I said firmly looking at him in the eye. He looked away while I looked back at Sairoarg who was scratching his cheek. "But my teammate has a point. Were you ?"

He shook his head in the negative. "No, Alcides just wanted a sparring partner and I was more than glad to do this. It's not everyday you can fight with this generation Lion King. And beside he told me that he planned to join the Church with his brother." He explained.

"I see, and the attackers then?" I asked him while looking at the dead bodies littering the ground.

"Like you, I believe that they are from the Old Maou Faction. Maybe they wanted to extract his Sacred Gear for themselves but it is strange that they will associate themselves with Stray magicians." He said in curiosity while I nodded in aggrement.

At this time period, The Old Maou Faction were not known to associate with foreign powers especially Stray and human magicians. That happened, only because they were part of the Khaos Brigade. So it means that the Brigade might be already active in some capacity.

I was startled from my thought by Sairoarg's voice. "Alcides must have summoned me with his contract so that I could help him fend off the attackers but I was too late and when I was summoned, The Nemean Lion already ended his rampage and set his sight on me. It was then that you all appeared and you know the rest." He finished sadly.

"I seen the it means that we have to find him before he goes in another rampage and end up killing innocents."

"'We'" He said in surprise.

"Yes, we will need your help to deal with the beast as I do not believe that we will succeed with just the three of us." Well I could but it would means showing more cards that it is necessary. "I've seen you hold your ground with the Nemean Lion and I believe that you and your Queen will be a great help." I told him seriously.

He looked at in surprised and let a big bellowing laugh. "Hahahah, you really are a strange exorcist Cao Cao. I thought for a second that I'll have to sneak on my own to fight the Lion." I raised an eyebrow at this. "Vey well we will help you but at one condition." He said.

"Shoot."

"I wish to capture the Lion alive, I believe that it can be reasoned with." He told me seriously.

Jeanne moved to protest but I raised my hand to stop her as it was exacly what I wanted from Sairoarg anyway. "Very well but if he starts killing innocent people, we will not hesitate to put him down." I warned him.

He nodded in aggreement. " It's a deal then." He said and offered me his hand.

"It's a deal."I said and shook his hand.

However a second later I felt a strong life force coming in our direction as well as something else, I raised my head in alarm while Sairoarg felt the same disturbance and put his guard up.

A moment later, several missiles, yes freaking missiles, came in our direction with incredible speed.

I put myself in front of my teammates and raised my arm. "**Shinra Tensei!**" I cried out and a powerful force threw the missiles away. Others came toward Sairoarg and Kuisha but they dealt with it by literally punching it away and creating holes to redirect them.

Several explosions was heard from all direction and a second later someone came out of the woods.

It was an imposing young man with shoulder length grey hair and wearing some sort of greek armor. A furious expression was plastered on his face.

I stared in shock because I know exactly who it was.

"YOU…YOU KILLED MY BROTHER ! YOU WILL PAY!" The wielder of Variant Detonation hurled in anger and fury.

Okay,

What the fuck is Heracles doing here ?

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. **

**In this chapter, we have Cao Cao take his first step as a leader. As you can see, he is facing some difficulties. Charisma is not enough to be a leader, experience and being capable of making others listen to your orders is also needed especially when your teammates are particulary unruly. You could say that it kind of a trial run for when he will create his faction.**

**We also have him go against the Nemean Lion. I thought that it would be interesting that he got involved in this and I can do whatever I want because it was never explained how the wielder of Regulus Nemea died. As for Heracles being the brother of the guy, I made it up. I couldn't help myself, an arc with both Heracles and a Nemean Lion, I couldn't not do it. Beside I needed a way to realistically introduce him in the story and I believe that the way I went about it fit the setting.**

**As for Sairoarg, he will have an important role in my story. He will be Cao Cao's rival, a friendly rival and not an enemy. It's such a shame that this badass is always a minor character in stories and even in canon. Sairoarg is my favorite character in DxD and I honestly think that he should have been the main character of DxD. Come on the guy was born a failure with no bloodline and demonic powers and yet he is paving his way to the top. Ishibumi did him an injustice by using him as stepping stone for that dumbass Issei. How could the author have him lose against a loser who never trained a day in his life while Sairoarg literally shed tears of blood to get where he is. He has more drive, ambition and passion that Issei could ever have.**

**Anyway rant over, it's just a big pet peeves of mine.**

**Until Next Time!**


End file.
